Internacional Conference Migrations and Social Policies in Europe Universidad P blica de Navarra Pamplona, June 8th-10

1. Internacional Conference“Migrations and Social Policies in Europe”Universidad Pública de NavarraPamplona, June 8th-10th, 2006Poverty and social exclusion. Homeless immigrants María Luisa Setién Isabel Berganza Universidad de Deusto Observatorio Vasco de Inmigración Bilbao

2. Immigrants, especially if they have arrived recently, have a greater probability of:   Occupying the jobs least in demand by natives Having relatively low wages Being in poverty Being homeless.

3. Questions to answer What is the profile of homeless immigrants? What characteristics define these immigrants? What is their standard of living and social protection? To what extent does being an immigrant increase the risk of exclusion and poverty?

4. Methodological questions: Survey on homeless people Survey done in 2005 by the INE Objective: To study the characteristics of the users of centres that provide accommodation and/or meals. Group studied: Homeless people, 18 years or over, who live in towns of 20,000 or more inhabitants.

5. Homeless person One who does not have access to accommodation that fulfils the accepted criteria of human habitability. For this reason s/he is forced to sleep temporarily: in the street, in buildings that do not meet the conditions, in emergency accommodation, long-stay accommodation provided by the public sector or third-sector organizations, in pensions and other short-stay lodgings or in squats.

6. People interviewed Those that go to centres that provide accommodation and/or meals (mainly kitchens and hostels). During February 2005. 21,900 people in Spain use these services.

7. 1. Profile of homeless immigrants

8. age and gender

9. family

10. Education and age finishing school

11. citizenship and place of birth

12. 1. Profile of homeless immigrants Men, 18 to 44 years, unmarried, with secondary education until between 15 and 18 years of age, originating from the Mahgreb (mainly Morocco and Algeria) Almost half of homeless people are immigrants (compared with 8% of the population of Spain)

13. 2. Characteristics of homeless immigrants

14. Residence situation

15. Residence situation

16. Employment situation

17. Employment situation

18. 2. Characteristics of homeless immigrants Less than 1 year resident in Spain and less than 6 months homeless Sleep in shelters, public spaces or wherever is available (doorways, corridors, cashpoints, etc.) Registered with municipal censor Unemployed, seeking work less than 6 months, as unskilled workers

19. 3. Level of life of homeless immigrants

20. Income

21. Expenditure

22. 3. Level of life of homeless immigrants Their income comes from work, family and friends, and people in the street. In many cases the source is unknown. Less than 300 Euros a month Food, drink and trnasport consume a large part of their income. Some send money home.

23. 4. Social services and quality of life of homeless immigrants

24. Health and social services

25. Treatment received

26. Legal problems

27. 4. Social services and quality of life of homeless immigrants Half do not have a health card, but do have contact with social services. They think that social services provide little or no help to homeless immigrants. Most have been robbed and cheated, many have received insults and threats and some have been victims of assault. A third have been arrested and sentenced by a court.

28. 5. Inmigration y social exclusion

29. 5. Does being an immigrant increase the risk of poverty and exclusion?

30. 5. Does being an immigrant increase the risk of poverty and exclusion?

31. 5. Does being an immigrant increase the risk of poverty and exclusion?

32. 5. Does being an immigrant increase the risk of poverty and exclusion?

33. 5. Does being an immigrant increase the risk of poverty and exclusion?

34. 5. Does being an immigrant increase the risk of poverty and exclusion?

35. 5. Does being an immigrant increase the risk of poverty and exclusion?

36. 5. Does being an immigrant increase the risk of poverty and exclusion?

37. 5. Immigration and social exclusion The network of attention to homeless people has become a parallel network of emergency reception for immigrants with the least economic, social and relational resources. Homeless immigrants are a younger, and more predominantly male, population than homeless natives.

38. With a slightly higher educational level, among homeless immigrants more are in work, although with less income, than among homeless natives. Natives have greater health and social protection, receive more RMI (salary for social insertion).

39. Immigrants are more often in situations of neglect, and sleep more often in the street or similar places. Natives use shelters, pensions and other residences more. They spend more on food, drink, accommodation and leisure. Homeless immigrants, as well as spending more on transport, send more money home.

40. Despite institutional neglect, immigrants know how to protect themselves better than natives. They are less subject to assaults, abuse, theft and threats than homeless natives. This may be because the number of people without addictions among then is high, thus they are arrested and convicted less often than natives.

41. Being an immigrant increases the risk of poverty and social exclusion. Because it is the fact of being an immigrant which leads them to end up in the street, being without a safety net. With immigrants it is not the case, as with natives, that ending up on the street is the result of the de-structuring of life, or problems of health and delinquency.

42. 5. Immigration, poverty and social exclusion Two thirds of immigrants who are on the street are there simply because they are foreign and without a family or a public network to help them, not being able to work or working with a very low income. Homeless natives are more related to abuse of drugs/alcohol, mental health problems, the desertion of family and of support networks, delinquency...

43. Social exclusion is the set of structural processes, ideological and cultural patterns, social tendencies and mechanisms that produce personal or collective impoverishment, and do not allow integrated development within a society. The concept is useful to describe the reasons why some groups undergo a situation where some of their basic human needs are not met (poverty), whereas other social groups enjoy greater levels of protection.

44. It is found that: Homeless immigrants are found in areas of: . vulnerability, unstable areas characterised by precarious or intermittent work, with fragility in the familiar and social support, . marginality or exclusion, characterized by the absence of work and social isolation . The phenomenon of exclusion is structural, because it affects the new group of poor immigrants, joining the traditional poor natives.

45. It is found that: The phenomenon of exclusion is multidimensional, because it affects shortage of economic resources, poverty, difficulty finding work, homelessness, shortage of social support networks, relation with areas of social marginalisation, difficulty of access to goods and services of social protection. The phenomenon of exclusion is strategic, because it can be approached from public policies, as well as from civil society.

46. The extension of social protection coverage to immigrants can be a way to fight against social exclusion, reducing the impact of homelessness in our society.