The data, based on the Survey on Social Integration and Need (Einsfoessa), indicates that one in four people in Barcelona are in this situation, affecting 225,000 households. Furthermore, 37.7% of the diocese's population lives in a situation of "precarious integration," while the foreign population has exclusion rates 2.4 times higher.
“"Situations of precariousness are clearly related to the population's capacity to access housing. Having decent and affordable housing seems to be a matter of luck."
The document points to the price of rent as one of the main culprits for the situation, warning that the burden of housing expenditure has become a "poverty trap." More than 15% of the population falls into severe poverty after incurring this expense.
Precariousness has consolidated as "the new normal" in the diocese: 57.5% of people in social exclusion reside in households where the main provider is employed. These difficulties are multiplied by three in households with minors.
“"We cannot allow the opportunities of children and adolescents to depend on the luck they have at birth."
The Archbishop of Barcelona, Joan Josep Omella, stated that the figures reflected in the report are a sign of society's lack of solidarity and quoted Pope Francis to refer to the "globalization of indifference" as a main cause.
