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All / Homeless people / Having a home / Barcelona / Europe / Arrels / Connections week / Feeling useful / Creativity
84 Homes to Preserve the Memory

28 October, 2024 | Barcelona

84 Homes to Preserve the Memory

On Tuesday, November 12, we will hold a remembrance event for the homeless individuals who have passed away over the past year. Since 2016, we have remembered the 580 homeless people who died in the city of Barcelona and whom we supported through Arrels and other organizations. Living on the streets shortens a person’s life; […]

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How the Housing First model is being adapted in Catalonia and the rest of Europe

30 April, 2024 | Europe

How the Housing First model is being adapted in Catalonia and the rest of Europe

Defending housing as a human right and helping people to have and maintain a home of their own. These are the basic objectives of the Housing First model, which saw its beginnings in a programme to remediate homelessness created in the 1990s in New York. Since then, the model has been adopted in different parts […]

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The Arrels symposium ‘Housing First in Catalonia: Moving the Model Forwards’

23 April, 2024 | Catalunya

The Arrels symposium ‘Housing First in Catalonia: Moving the Model Forwards’

Last 24 April, Arrels organized the symposium “Housing First in Catalonia: Moving the Model Forwards” at Barcelona’s , bringing together Housing First specialists from different parts of the world and showcasing the EU-cofinanced Erasmus+ project Adapting Housing First – Innovating Housing Staff, whose remit is to identify how the Housing First model is being implemented […]

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Almost 70% of people who live on the street in Barcelona don’t expect to access a place to live

16 March, 2023 | Barcelona

Almost 70% of people who live on the street in Barcelona don’t expect to access a place to live

Almost 70% of people who live on the street in Barcelona don’t have hope of moving into an accommodation anytime soon and four out of every ten don’t have anyone to count on. The more time someone spends living on the street, the worse their situation, and possibilities of leaving it, become. Only 46% of […]

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Social entities and the academic world give to the Parliament of Catalonia a proposed law to tackle homelessness

25 January, 2022 | Catalunya

Social entities and the academic world give to the Parliament of Catalonia a proposed law to tackle homelessness

This morning we presented in the Parliament of Catalonia a bill to address homelessness that will respond to the situation of people living on the street, staying overnight in shelters or living in temporary facilities. This proposed law must guarantee their right to have a decent residential space and is a pioneer law in Europe […]

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#LookTalkAct: Participate with your art in a European project to break down prejudices that affect homeless people

24 March, 2021 | Iniciatives

#LookTalkAct: Participate with your art in a European project to break down prejudices that affect homeless people

We are looking for amateur and professional artists who would like to create an art piece, with a social and positive perspective, to help us transform the image of people sleeping on the streets. The aim of this initiative is to create an international art collection that will be exhibited and published in various European […]

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Living on the streets in Barcelona: 16 proposals so that everyone can have a home

2 July, 2020 | Barcelona

Living on the streets in Barcelona: 16 proposals so that everyone can have a home

Between 2016 and 2019 we have been going out onto the streets of Barcelona in order to interview those living there – to find out more about their health situation, whether they have been assaulted, what kind of social care they are receiving and their vulnerability level, among others. As a result, we are publishing […]

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“When you end up on the street, you soon realise that the homelessness support services in Barcelona have many shortcomings”

1 July, 2020 | Barcelona

“When you end up on the street, you soon realise that the homelessness support services in Barcelona have many shortcomings”

Gemma Gassó and Bob Walker are two of the Arrels’ outreach team case workers. They go around Barcelona visiting the people who have lived on the streets for a long time and try to earn their trust, an essential step to improve their situation and to offer them helpful places they can go to. They […]

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“Being on a street situation is more than losing your job or not having a home”

1 July, 2020 | Barcelona

“Being on a street situation is more than losing your job or not having a home”

Marta Maynou is in charge of Arrels Fundació’s Host programme, an initiative formed by our street team —which goes out across Barcelona to visit people who have been living out on the streets the longest— and who use the Day Centre, the place to go for essential services such as showers, clothes, and a storage […]

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“Being on the streets increases mortality in men and women by a factor of 7 and 11, respectively”

1 July, 2020 | News

“Being on the streets increases mortality in men and women by a factor of 7 and 11, respectively”

Doctor Daniel Roca is a general practitioner at the Centre d’Atenció Primària Drassanes and the Centre d’Atenció Sociosanitària-Sala Baluard, in the neighbourhood of El Raval. He goes further than just prescribing medication – always ensuring he gives all people a comprehensive medical check-up in order to avoid any health issues. He thinks the system should […]

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“Living on the streets is hard, but for women it is even harder”

1 July, 2020 | Homeless people

“Living on the streets is hard, but for women it is even harder”

Her alias is Úrsula Alonso. She has lived on the streets for more than eight years, in different periods of time because she has gone to therapeutic communities, rehabilitation centres, a night shelter and a low-threshold shelter, among others. She likes to draw, read newspapers and go to the library. She claims that the services […]

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“I was tired of struggling to survive every day”

1 July, 2020 | Homeless people

“I was tired of struggling to survive every day”

Juan Verdón succeeded in getting off of the streets after living there for 15 years, a process that, he assures us, is tough and hard to go through for most. All the insults and sneers hurt him, but he also does remember all the kind people that helped him in Poblenou, the neighbourhood he got […]

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“Having an apartment solves 50% of the problem”

1 July, 2020 | Homeless people

“Having an apartment solves 50% of the problem”

Davide Andreoli lived on the streets for more than eight years. He is grateful to have a house where he can feel safer, but he explains that the fear does not go away and that getting used to a new life is hard. He believes that one month of sleeping on the street is enough […]

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#HomelessTalk: an european project to promote inclusion and participation

13 February, 2020 | Europe

#HomelessTalk: an european project to promote inclusion and participation

Volunteers, workers and former homeless people attended in Arrels have all joined forces with other social entities from Hungary, Slovakia, and Germany who work with homeless people as part of an Erasmus+ project designed to promote sensitization and participation. We’ll tell you all about it!  Since a few months ago, we are part of a […]

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Christmas is over. Winter isn’t

10 January, 2020 | Arrels

Christmas is over. Winter isn’t

This postcard is not of the Christmas nativity scene. It is in fact an awareness campaign starring people who live or have lived on the streets of Barcelona. Although Christmas is over, winter isn’t. We have to look beyond the thermometer and work towards the common goal of all people having the right to affordable […]

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#StopThisPhoto, an Instagram campaign to defend the rights of those living on the street

22 July, 2019 | Arrels

#StopThisPhoto, an Instagram campaign to defend the rights of those living on the street

Are you tired of always seeing the same summer photos? So are we. That’s why we keep repeating that 1,200 people live on the street in Barcelona and that these images should change. We started a campaign on Instagram that lays out the rights of the homeless that are being violated. In Barcelona, about 1,200 […]

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Discover a different side of Barcelona!

11 July, 2019 | Barcelona

Discover a different side of Barcelona!

Do you want to show your friends another side of Barcelona? Do you want to see the city from a different perspective? We invite you to walk alongside a person who has lived on the street and learn their story. The goal is to take a different tour of the usual touristic routes while discovering […]

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“The information that you used was that which was passed to you by others on the street”

9 July, 2019 | Barcelona

“The information that you used was that which was passed to you by others on the street”

Joaquín and Carlos collaborated on the production of the guide Living on the street in Barcelona that we just published at Arrels, and that is made for people who live in the street. Joaquín and Carlos have been through this experience and, with three others, have provided a series of practical tips that do not appear […]

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The homeless in Barcelona have spent an average of almost 4 years living on the street

4 July, 2019 | Barcelona

The homeless in Barcelona have spent an average of almost 4 years living on the street

The night of June 12, during the census of homeless people, we located almost 1,200 people sleeping on the street in Barcelona and 347 wanted to speak to us. We now have the preliminary results and after four annual censuses, we’ve started to see trends. Health problems and the feeling of insecurity are worsened. The […]

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A European campaign that combats homelessness with more housing, influence and awareness

2 July, 2019 | Europe

A European campaign that combats homelessness with more housing, influence and awareness

In 2015, the British organization World Habitat put in place a cmpaign to strengthen, in different European cities, the goal #nobodysleepinginthestreet. Since then, 13 cities have been added, including Barcelona. The results of the first three years ofthe campaign indicate that 344 homeless people have found permanent housing and there are new actions and resources […]

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Census 2019: 339 stories from the street and 1.195 people sleeping rough

13 June, 2019 | Barcelona

Census 2019: 339 stories from the street and 1.195 people sleeping rough

Tonight, we hit the streets of Barcelona to talk with the people who sleep rough and learn their level of vulnerability. The provisional data tells us that 339 people wanted to share their story with us, and a total of 1,195 people were found sleeping on the street. Beyond these figures, there are numerous situations, heartbreaks […]

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Arrels publishes guide ‘Living on the street in Barcelona’ with practical advice for homeless people

7 May, 2019 | Barcelona

Arrels publishes guide ‘Living on the street in Barcelona’ with practical advice for homeless people

Every day at Arrels, we attend to around five to seven people who live on the street and don’t know where to go to ask for help and whom we try to advise about the resources available in the city. We created a practical guide that compiles more than 70 resources that people can Access directly […]

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What did we do in 2018?

10 April, 2019 | Arrels

What did we do in 2018?

In 2018, we assisted 2,368 people, some 24% more than in the previous year. We assisted more than a thousand of these people for the first time, and more than 1,900 used the Open Centre’s basic services and guidance. The street team visited 528 people who slept on the street and we secured accommodations for […]

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We have assisted 2,341 people in 2018, a 23% more than the previous year

10 January, 2019 | Arrels

We have assisted 2,341 people in 2018, a 23% more than the previous year

The number of assisted people at Arrels has increased again. In 2018, we assisted 2,341 people, a 23% more than in 2017 and a 72% more than five years ago. Most of these people have come to us looking for basic services and asking for orientation. There are a lot of challenges because the number […]

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Change your mind to enforce rights

27 December, 2018 | Having a home

Change your mind to enforce rights

Imagine that your life is held by threads that hold you. A thread can mean your health, your education, your family, your job… And suddenly, a thread breaks but nothing happens because the other ones hold you. Time passes by and the situation doesn’t get better; and other thread breaks and the web is more […]

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The resources for the cold in Barcelona will only give answer to an 8% of homeless people

13 December, 2018 | Barcelona

The resources for the cold in Barcelona will only give answer to an 8% of homeless people

A thousand of people live on the street in Barcelona. With the arrival of the cold weather, the City Council opens 75 places until March and intends to open 325 more places at some special days, when the temperature is below 0ºC. The measure still sticks to the thermometer and doesn’t give answer to most […]

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Architectural elements that violate rights

13 November, 2018 | Barcelona

Architectural elements that violate rights

Individual benches, concrete balls, spikes on the floor, inclined sills, bars… are some of hostile architecture that we find in big cities and suppose a right violation for homeless people. From Arrels, we claim for inclusive cities and residential solutions so nobody has to sleep on the street and we invite you to make visible […]

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Art to create, to innovate, to move… and to transform

16 July, 2018 | Creativity

Art to create, to innovate, to move… and to transform

Quan anem al teatre, visitem una exposició, comprem un moble, agafem un llibre de la biblioteca o anem al cinema busquem obrir la nostra ment, emocionar-nos, transformar-nos. Imagineu, a més, trobar el missatge #ningúdormintalcarrer? L’art, el disseny i la creativitat són grans aliats i des d’Arrels ho volem aprofitar. […]

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2030 goals: achieving worthy housing for everyone in the EU

5 July, 2018 | Europe

2030 goals: achieving worthy housing for everyone in the EU

L’any 2015, les Nacions Unides van marcar una sèrie d’objectius per lluitar contra la pobresa. La Unió Europea ha assumit el repte i, entre els temes que ha posat sobre la taula, destaca l’accés a l’habitatge digne i la problemàtica del sensellarisme. La xarxa europea Feantsa insta a fer polítiques efectives per complir els objectius fixats abans de l’any 2030. […]

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Census 2018: 46% said they have not been assisted by a social worker

27 June, 2018 | Connections week

Census 2018: 46% said they have not been assisted by a social worker

La noche del 5 al 6 de junio salimos por las calles de Barcelona para entrevistar a las personas que duermen en la calle. Hablamos con 315 personas y los primeros resultados indican que el 71% de las personas sufren una situación de vulnerabilidad elevada o media. El 59,8% hace un año o más que duermen en la calle, el 41% dicen tener problemas de salud física y un 46% afirman no haber sido atendidas por ningún trabajador/a social ni similar durante los últimos 6 meses. […]

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1,301 people sleep on the street in ten municipalities in Barcelona

17 May, 2018 | Homeless people

1,301 people sleep on the street in ten municipalities in Barcelona

Terrassa, Barcelona, Badalona, Sant Adrià de Besòs i Santa Coloma de Gramenet han realitzat recomptes de persones sense llar aquesta setmana. Les dades se sumen a les ja recollides en anys anteriors a Girona, Tarragona, Lleida, Mataró i Reus. A Catalunya no tenim xifres actualitzades per dimensionar el sensellarisme però sabem que almenys 1.301 persones dormen al carrer en aquests deu municipis. […]

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Arrels helps 50% more homeless people than five years ago

12 January, 2018 | Arrels

Arrels helps 50% more homeless people than five years ago

In 2017, Arrels has helped more than 1,912 people, a similar number to the previous year and which amounts to a 50% increase in five years. The amount of people who use the basic services that we offer has also increased. The main difficulty that we have come up against is finding stable and affordable accommodation that will allow more people to stop sleeping on the street. […]

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“Flat Zero helped to open my eyes”

13 July, 2017 | Feeling useful

“Flat Zero helped to open my eyes”

Flat Zero is a low-threshold night shelter that offers a secure and welcoming space for ten people. Since February we have provided 170 nights of accommodation to some thirty people known to us at Arrels. They are people who have been living on the streets for a long time, who are in highly vulnerable situations, and who have been unable to find a place in any other resource. Flat Zero is able to open its doors every day thanks to a team of concierges and some 25 volunteers. One of these people is Paula Huguet, who we interviewed here. […]

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Proposals to make #nobodysleepingonthestreet possible

30 June, 2017 | Arrels

Proposals to make #nobodysleepingonthestreet possible

The information we obtained from the interviews with people sleeping on the streets in Barcelona should be used to review and improve resources, challenge policies and procedures that already exist and to promote new, useful courses of action aimed at addressing the realities of people who are sleeping on the street. At Arrels we have already started our work and have prepared a series of proposals in the context of the city. […]

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The vulnerability of the people living on the street in Barcelona

30 June, 2017 | Barcelona

The vulnerability of the people living on the street in Barcelona

How are people living in the streets of Barcelona vulnerable? What health problems do they have? Are they exposed to violence? And what does the citizens think of the problem of homelessness? To all these questions, wants to answer the document ‘The vulnerability of people living in the streets of Barcelona’. […]

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The Housing First model in Arrels Foundation

30 December, 2016 | Arrels

The Housing First model in Arrels Foundation

In January 2014, we decided to launch the Housing First model in Arrels Foundation. To achieve this, we changed our ways of working, and the way we trained professionals and the volunteering team. At the same time, we had to merge our teams. […]

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Ana Maria and Stere’s handwriting added to the Homelessfonts project

19 September, 2016 | Companies

Ana Maria and Stere’s handwriting added to the Homelessfonts project

The handwriting of Ana Maria and Stere have been turned into fonts and added to the 9 already on Homelessfonts, a project which transforms the calligraphy of people who have lived on the street into fonts that individuals or businesses can purchase and use in their projects. Moreover, the website now includes the possibility of trying and previewing the fonts. […]

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#TheFuckingGif: if we all collaborate, the cycle can be broken!

6 July, 2016 | Arrels

#TheFuckingGif: if we all collaborate, the cycle can be broken!

Arrels is launching The Fucking Gif, a gif to go viral on the web in order to raise awareness about the reality of people who live in the street and give a clear message: if we all collaborate, we can break the cycle of poverty. The objective is to reach citizens of Barcelona and specifically the people from other countries that live in the city and want to get involved in a local cause. […]

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What do we mean when we talk about participation?

13 July, 2015 | Feeling useful

What do we mean when we talk about participation?

Throughout our day, we decide what we will do, how we will spend our free time, if we will spend time with our parents, or our neighbors, if we will dedicate our time to social or cultural activities… In a nutshell, we participate. In the homelessness field, there is still a long way to go. For homeless people, who decides? Do you consider your opinion when managing the resources used or when developing policy? […]

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Arrels hits the street

19 March, 2015 | Arrels

Arrels hits the street

In Barcelona, around 900 people sleep on the street and many have been doing so for a long time. The street teams of Arrels go visit them to know what they need and to be by their side. Last year they were in touch with 611 people. […]

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The new board in Arrels includes two persons who have experienced homelessness

20 January, 2015 | Arrels

The new board in Arrels includes two persons who have experienced homelessness

The role of the Arrels Board is to support the Director in the day to day running of the organization. Before, it was made up of the Director, workers and volunteers. From January 2015, we are happy to report that we have two new members who can represent the voice of the homeless. […]

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This Christmas, create your owncard and collaborate with the Arrels Foundation

17 December, 2014 | Companies

This Christmas, create your owncard and collaborate with the Arrels Foundation

At the Arrels Foundation we offer the possibility of designing your cards through our project Homelessfonts.org while contributing with a donation that helps us continue to work to make possible our hope that #nobodysleepingonthestreet. Here’s how! […]

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“HomelessFonts typographies can be used to send messages with defined personality”

6 October, 2014 | Companies

“HomelessFonts typographies can be used to send messages with defined personality”

Bill Davis is the spokesperson of Monotype, a leading company in the sector of fonts distribution. He has been in Barcelona these days, in the Conferència anual de Tipografia-ATypl, where he has presented the agreement made with Arrels Fundació aimed to make public the project HomelessFonts and to make people aware of the reality of homeless people through fonts. We talked to him about his vision of the project. […]

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Monotype adds to the Project HomelessFonts.org for Arrels Foundation

16 September, 2014 | Companies

Monotype adds to the Project HomelessFonts.org for Arrels Foundation

International typeface provider Monotype will distribute and give to know five typefaces of five homeless people, in the marc of the Project HomelessFonts.org. The cooperation agreement between Monotype and Arrels Foundation will be presented on the International Conference of Typografy -ATypI, that currently takes place in Barcelona. […]

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Arrels presents Homelessfonts.org, a website selling fonts created by homeless people

15 June, 2014 | Arrels

Arrels presents Homelessfonts.org, a website selling fonts created by homeless people

The Arrels foundation, in partnership with the advertising agency The Cyranos McCann, presents Homelessfonts.org, the first website to let you
buy fonts created by homeless people. This initiative aims to bring some
dignity to the life of homeless people and raise awareness of this issue,
which affects more and more people. […]

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The Lord of the city

3 May, 2014 | Arrels

The Lord of the city

Angel lived in the street for many years and now he tells his experience to secondary school students in a different and unusual way: taking them to visit the neighbourhood he used to live in. The initiative is contained within the project “Passejant Junts”. Agnès Marquès, board member of Arrels, relates a guided visit with Angel in the text below. […]

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“Barcelona should be one of the first European cities in eradicate Homelessness”

16 April, 2014 | Barcelona

“Barcelona should be one of the first European cities in eradicate Homelessness”

José Ornelas runs the Association for the Study and the Psycho-Social Integration that attends people with mental illnesses in Portugal. One of his projects is Casas Primeiro, which offers homeless people with mental illnesses the opportunity to move from the streets into permanent apartments. Ornelas wonders why this doesn’t happen in Barcelona. […]

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Arrels  “presents” a mobile in the Mobile World Congress to make possible ‘Nobody sleeping on the street’

23 February, 2014 | Barcelona

Arrels “presents” a mobile in the Mobile World Congress to make possible ‘Nobody sleeping on the street’

Arrels joins the Mobile World Congress that is being held in Barcelona these days, introducing a cardboard model including the application “Nobody sleeping on the street” also in Catalan and Spanish version, to show that there are 900 people sleeping on Barcelona streets and to encourage not only Congress attendees but everybody to give financial support. […]

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