The need for medical treatments away from home creates a dual concern for thousands of patients and their families: the uncertainty of illness and the difficulty in finding decent housing. In 2025, 1,072 families secured a place to stay in Barcelona thanks to organizations like the Josep Carreras Foundation or the Jubert Figuera Foundation. However, 259 applications went unanswered due to a lack of resources.
"We have families, not just one or two, whom we've found sleeping in their cars. Also, people who have to rent a caravan several kilometers away," warns Carolina Oliva, a healthcare social worker at the Catalan Institute of Oncology.
I slept in the car for two weeks
Anna is one of the individuals who last year found a room in an apartment in Barcelona. Her daughter Judit was undergoing a double transplant, and complications led to a lengthy hospital stay. Both are from Girona, 100 km from the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital where she was admitted. "I was on a sofa in the hospital, the nurses let me shower at night, then I slept in the car for about two weeks," she explains.
Eventually, Judit's doctors mobilized Social Services, who put her in touch with the Jubert Figueras Foundation. The organization provided her with keys. "It changed everything for me. I knew that, when I could, I had a place to go," recalls Anna.
The foundations are urging the Administration to act and assist these families. "They should make the large stock of vacant housing available to citizens and social entities," demands Marta Soler, vice-president of the Jubert Figueras Foundation. They also suggest following France's model, where "the welfare state should provide housing next to every major tertiary hospital so that caregivers can be accommodated in dignified conditions."
Currently, the organizations manage 55 accommodations and 156 rooms in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. These spaces are adapted to the needs of displaced families, not only from Catalonia but also from other parts of Spain and worldwide. The duration of stays varies depending on treatments and pathologies, ranging from one or two days for diagnostic tests to a year for transplants.
