social centres

A new soup kitchen opened a week ago in the Eixample district, in downtown Barcelona, with a capacity for a hundred places. Barcelona City Council has increased the funding intended for social dining facilities in its 2012 budget by 69%. Expanding the number of places and soup kitchens is “a key priority” of the city to guarantee access to food for everyone, according to Maite Fandos, Deputy Mayor for Social Affairs. The capital of Catalonia now has 17 soup kitchens and can attend 1,540 users each day. In 2012, the City Council’s soup kitchens served a total of 380,737 meals to 10,423 users.

The Catalan Social Affairs Minister, Josep Lluís Cleries, stated before the Catalan Parliament that €70 million had not been paid on time to health and social care organisations this August. He said he was sorry for the situation but underlined that the €50 million destined for private citizens had been paid. The Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, emphasised that, if the Spanish Government does not activate the Liquidity Fund for the Autonomous Communities and similar measures, he cannot guarantee the situation will not be repeated in the future. However, he said to be confident the Spanish Government will put these mechanisms in place soon. The Left-Wing opposition parties had requested the urgent hearings.

Catalonia’s Executive blames the Spanish Government for not having transferred all this month’s economic resources and creating serious financial problems for the Autonomies, compelled to pay other financial obligations first. Social care organisations state that the service is guaranteed but that some employees might not receive their salary in time. In addition, despite that they are looking for solutions with the Catalan Government, they criticise the bad planning and are having to look for last minute solutions. Catalonia’s opposition parties have forced the Catalan Finance and Social Affairs Ministers to explain the situation to the Catalan Parliament.

The Barcelona City Hall has invested 6.8 million euros to the development of social centres that will attend to families with a high risk for social exclusion. The Centre Obert of Sant Martí is an example of the success of social centres.