The start of the political season at the Barcelona City Council, traditionally marked by the Tres Tombs de Sant Andreu parade, was overshadowed by the social crisis. Mayor Jaume Collboni did not make statements to the media, a fact criticized by political rivals on a morning dominated by the urgency of homelessness, with the Arrels Foundation counting five deaths in the last five weeks.
“"We have the highest budget to respond to this need; we have 1,000 million euros for social policies, which include policies for homeless people."
The Councillor for Sant Andreu, the socialist Marta Villanueva, defended that the PSC executive considers homelessness a “priority” and stressed that the council has 1,000 million euros allocated for social policies, the highest budget in the city's history. She also suggested the possibility of extending the cold weather operation, which offers 200 additional places, beyond January 13 depending on weather conditions.
The opposition was highly critical. Carol Recio (Barcelona en Comú) attributed the deaths to Collboni's “homelessness policies” and demanded a social policy shift. Meanwhile, Daniel Sirera (PP) regretted that “five deaths in five weeks is something Barcelona cannot afford” and requested the appearance of the Social Services Councillor, Raquel Gil.
The leader of ERC in the council, Elisenda Alemany, described the recent weeks as “dramatic” and recalled that her group agreed to allocate 12 million euros for a 'housing first' project within the budget pact with the PSC. According to data from the Arrels Foundation, at the beginning of December, 1,982 people were sleeping rough in the streets.
