The high price of housing leads more and more people to the Algarve Social Emergency Accommodation Center (CAES), on the outskirts of Faro, preventing several families from falling into homelessness.
The person responsible for CAES in the Algarve, Fábio Simão, states that there are many factors that lead people in precarious situations to seek out this center, but he has no doubt in stating that the housing crisis is the main one.
“We are talking about people who some of them work, but there is no answer, there are no houses to rent. In fact, there are no houses that have decent prices for a person to live in”, Fábio Simão told the Lusa agency.
The center, located in a vacant building provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, in Braciais, on the outskirts of Faro, received 154 people since its opening on September 01, 2022.
“We are talking here about an average of 500 to 700 euros for a T0 or a T1. This is impractical for those who receive a minimum wage”, highlights the person responsible for CAES.
People and families “in an unprotected situation” and without the means to pay for a house end up entering CAES firstly due to cases of unemployment and then domestic violence, loss of autonomy, eviction, illness or fire, according to those responsible for the center.
“CAES aims to prevent people from being on the street. They don’t stop being homeless people, because they don’t have a home”, says Fábio Simão, who is involved in several projects to help the most disadvantaged.
Without homes at an affordable price, CAES prevents these people from becoming homeless, providing them with valuable support for three months or, at most, six months.
According to the president of the Movement to Support AIDS Problems (MAPS), in recent months there has been an increase in the number of people needing help in the Algarve.
Fábio Simão added that the number of homeless people used to decrease at this time, between summer and Christmas, but that did not happen this year.
The Algarve CAES has 46 beds, but only 30 have been occupied since the beginning, within the scope of protocols with Social Security (25 beds) and the municipality of Faro (five).
The investment in this social equipment was 700 thousand euros – with support from the municipality (180 thousand euros) and the remaining funds guaranteed by MAPS, the entity that presented the CAES project, including a bank loan of 310 thousand euros.
Much of the furniture and material that equips the building was donated by several companies and hotels, as well as individuals.
Lusa spoke to one of the center's users, Ana (fictitious name), who is there with her sick and unemployed husband and three-year-old son, who told Lusa that she feels welcomed there, highlighting that the CAES employees “are always ready to help.”
This household left the house “unconditionally” that it rented for 250 euros on Ilha da Culatra, municipality of Faro, because the landlady needed the place to accommodate her son who, in turn, had been forced to abandon another room that he also rented.
Ana does not hide her anguish about the situation she is experiencing, and she is still not sure whether she will be able to give her life a direction during the three months she can remain at the support center.
Another case of a person without the means to pay for housing is that of Maria, a mother with two daughters aged 04 and 07, who was “evicted” from her home in Portimão and was unable to find housing upon her return to Faro. Before joining CAES, Maria camped for two and a half months at Praia de Faro with the daughters.
According to figures provided to Lusa, around 70% of the people helped are of Portuguese nationality, 20% are from other European countries and 10% are from outside Europe.
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