Madrid announces opening of emergency social care project for 150 homeless people who sleep at Barajas Airport

Madrid city council is setting up an emergency social housing project to attend to the homeless people who spend the night at the Spanish capital's Barajas Airport, provided that they have some connection with the city, i.e. that they are registered as residents or that they have been previously been monitored by the municipal social services.

The air-conditioned facility, with a capacity for 150 people, will be set up in the Pinar de San José centre in the Carabanchel district. It will be operational from the second half of July until the end of October. Among the services included in the new social facility are breakfast, dinner, bathrooms and laundry facilities. In addition, those sheltered will receive a public transport card to make it easier for them to get around, as some of the homeless at Barajas are workers whose salaries are too low to pay rent.

The centre, which is part of a social emergency contract worth 932,000 euros, provides "a dignified social response" to these people's living situation, as Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida promised at the meeting held last May with the president of state airport operator Aena - Maurici Lucena.

Airport operator Aena's responsibility in the agreement includes drawing up a census that will assess how many people sleep at the airport and what their situation is. This "identification process" was to be ready in June, but is currently "still being processed". According to Aena, it has been delayed by the processing of personal data in compliance with the protection law.

Since that meeting, the issues generated by homelessness at Barajas have ceased to be in the daily news spotlight. Both administrations pledged to resolve any problems jointly before airing them publicly. Aena's decision to restrict night-time access to the airport terminals from 9pm to 5am - a time slot in which only passengers with boarding passes and identified workers can enter - has also contributed to this.

In June, 119 of the roughly 400 people sleeping at Barajas were attended to. The city council said that, until the census is finalised, it will not be possible to define the type of social care each person needs.

The Carabanchel centre will be open from 8pm to 9am. However, 20 of the 150 spots will be granted 24-hour access to a day centre.

In addition, people will be provided with dinner and breakfast on the premises, as well as snacks for lunch. They will have access to toilets, laundry, luggage office, wardrobe and public transport cards.

The centre will also carry out a process of individualised social intervention with each person, with the aim of supporting them in their transition to an independent life or favouring their access to the municipal network of care for the homeless, to addiction treatment resources, to centres for the elderly, those suffering from mental health conditions or other circumstances that put them in a vulnerable situation.

On the other hand, the city council has advised Aena to set up a social care unit at Barajas Airport to "prevent a repetition of the current situation". This unit would work in coordination with the competent administrations in order to "refer people who express their intention to settle or spend the night at Barajas and offer them social care as soon as possible".