The city of Lisbon identified 3,378 homeless people at the end of 2023, 594 of whom were sleeping on the streets, 200 more than in 2022, the mayor revealed today.
“We have 3,378 homeless people in Lisbon and, of these, 594 have no roof over their heads,” said Carlos Moedas (PSD), on the sidelines of the inauguration of the “Municipal Prevention and Autonomy Unit” project, in the Lisbon parish of Beato, which will take in those who have been living on the streets for less than a month, preventing them from remaining homeless.
Lusa questioned Lisbon City Hall about the presentation of 2023 data on homelessness in the city, to which a source from the municipality confirmed the figures put forward by Carlos Moedas, but referred to more details at a later date.
Compared to the figures for 2022, the data released today by the mayor point to an increase of 240 people experiencing homelessness, from 3,138 in 2022 to 3,378 in 2023, including 200 more homeless people, from 394 in 2022 to 594 in 2023.
In this context, the Lisbon mayor said that Portugal has 10,000 homeless people, but only 5,000 reception places, of which 2,800 are in the capital.
Carlos Moedas highlighted the implementation of the Municipal Plan for People Experiencing Homelessness, which foresees an investment of 70 million euros over seven years, between 2024 and 2030, with an increase in reception places, from 1,000 to 2,000, and a focus on prevention.
The data for 2022, released in May 2023 by the Project Team for the Municipal Plan for People Experiencing Homelessness 2019-2023 (EPPMPSSA), counted 3,138 people experiencing homelessness, of which 2,744 were without a home and 394 were homeless.
At the time, the coordinator of the municipal plan in this area, Paulo Santos, pointed out that there were 394 homeless people sleeping on the streets at the end of 2022, which corresponded to an increase of around 90 people compared to 2021.
“On the street, what we’re seeing is an increase in people in this condition [homelessness], in this case around 90 people,” according to data from December 31, 2022, revealed Paulo Santos.
“From 2020 onwards, there is an inflection, and in the year 2022, despite there being a reduction in the number of homeless people [living in temporary accommodation], there is an increase in people who are in a street situation [living in public space, housed in emergency shelters or with their whereabouts in a precarious place],” he said, explaining that the reduction in homeless people was related to the decrease in the number of asylum seekers in the city of Lisbon.
According to the data presented on homeless people in Lisbon, in 2018 a total of 2,473 citizens were identified (2,112 homeless and 361 homeless), in 2019 it increased to 3,178 (2.713 homeless and 465 homeless), in 2020 it rose to 3,811 (3,364 homeless and 447 homeless), in 2021 it fell to 3,328 (3,021 homeless and 307 homeless) and in 2022 there were 3,138 (2,744 homeless and 394 homeless).
“During 2022, we had 87 people who became completely autonomous and are no longer included in these figures, they are autonomous people and are making their way and their life project,” said Paulo Santos.
At a national level, 9,604 homeless people were identified in 2021, which means that “around 1/3 of homeless people are concentrated in the city of Lisbon”, said the EPPMPSSA coordinator.
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