The women from the center say goodbye to the streets and abuse: "Let my children not see me like this"

There is a unique place in Madrid that keeps 35 stories to tell. They are those of the women who have been able to take a step forward and now want a new life. In May 2021, the then delegate of Families, Equality and Social Welfare of the City Council, Pepe Aniorte, inaugurated the first center that would serve exclusively homeless women who, in addition, have been or are victims of gender violence. Two years later, all its positions are occupied and are served by 54 workers, who provide service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.. It was built in the heart of the Hortaleza district and is part of the Homeless People Network, managed by Cibeles.. Being independent of the chain of protection for sexist violence, it has some peculiarities.

As soon as you enter, you are surprised by several liters of beer that the workers take out of the kitchen, on a cart.. They are for the users, many of them alcoholics after passing through the street.. It is explained by Yolanda Herguera, the social worker who coordinates this exclusive center.. “They are given a consumption treatment within the building so that little by little they leave it,” he clarifies.. Every Tuesday, a doctor who is an expert in addictions comes to work with guests on their problems with alcohol.. The treatment, adds the person responsible, is individual and depends on each case, which is why mechanisms and treatment times are established.. In one of the adjoining rooms is the harm reduction room, as they call it.. This is where the evolution of each patient is managed.. Marta is the only one who dares to give her testimony.

This is a fictitious name created to protect your identity. The workers at the center ask to keep the identity of the users anonymous not only for a matter of privacy, but also for security.. As with alcohol, many of them are still in contact with their abusers, and sometimes – as long as there are no complaints or restraining orders involved – they can even see them outside the center.. “We cannot prohibit them from entering or leaving, although we do establish times to return home. So we also try to make sure that they are the ones who, for themselves, decide that this cannot continue like this,” Herguera determines.. It will be useless if they are immune inside the center if once they leave they relapse again.

When some of them are notified of one of these appointments, they wait or offer their telephone numbers. They suggest calling them at a specific time to break up the meeting, or ask them if they want to accompany them or even hang around near the place. Sometimes they have experienced difficult moments, like when one of these men locates the center and tries to enter it. Security plans are usually created. Many women take a card from the center in cases where they find themselves in uncomfortable or dangerous situations. Sometimes Marta, the user who testifies for this report, receives letters from her boyfriend Vicente. Again, this is not his real name. She met him when they both lived in Cañada Real, the dark shanty settlement of Madrid.

Her dream is to completely get rid of drugs and go live with her boyfriend.. Finally seeing his eldest son, 24 years old, whom he has not yet met. “The last thing I want is for my children to see me like this. Without teeth, without money, without life… I need to recover and be with them,” he wishes. At the moment, he is trying to improve. She has been in the shelter for five months and has been cleaning for several weeks. Methadone was what killed her, as she herself admits. “At first I didn't even want to come here, no matter how much the workers insisted,” says Marta. I was like, “If I have methadone, what else do I need?” In the end, he realized that life could be many more things than the substances that trapped it.. But his past has left him with consequences.

In general, she is very distrustful of people and has a hard time forming a bond with some of her classmates. “I admit that sometimes my wires get crossed. I react badly, I threaten to leave and, in the end, I give up,” he laments. It is then that those around him remind him that he has nowhere else to go. At least, not one that gives you hope for a better future. In his daily life, he carries out activities and does medical follow-ups to one day get out of there. She's comfortable, but she's looking for something more. “I want to have a routine, a house, a normal job…”, imagine. Before, in Cañada Real, other women used her to clean shacks: “I had seven or eight houses by myself. “With all the money I could have, and because of the fucking drugs I have nothing.”

In the middle of the conversation, he apologizes for “not knowing how to speak.” He says it while expressing himself perfectly, without realizing it. She has a complex about not making herself understood in front of the “payos”, those who are not gypsies like her. When she gets angry or fights with other colleagues at the center, she blames herself a lot: “I start to wonder, but what have I done, if they are helping me? I go crazy. I don't know what's wrong with me, I think it's because of the life I've had. “. Herguera understands her. He has seen many like her. He has a special affection for Marta: they have known each other for years. She started as a worker in Cañada Real and there she followed her case day by day, until she managed to gain their trust.. She admits that, as time passed and there were no noticeable changes, she began to get discouraged and think that there was no way to get her out of there.. He resisted.

The prototype user

But in the end, there it was. Being surrounded by other women in the same situation, who came from the streets and abuse, can be helpful according to experts.. “The profile we have here is very specific,” explains Herguera.. They are people who come from an extreme situation, whom the municipal teams that monitor public roads in search of homeless people found spending nights outdoors.. Being women, the danger increases and the risks – being raped, for example – accumulate.. Generally, the “prototype user” is between 40 and 45 years old – Marta “believes” that she is 43, although she does not remember – and they are Spanish, although there are also African, Romanian or Moroccan immigrants..

Their recent past is what they all have in common. But at the same time, it is also what creates the most friction.. They come from the streets, from being used to the danger of sleeping alone or, failing that, with people they choose. They bring their habits, their manias and their defense mechanisms that, sometimes, explode almost automatically. “Coexistence can be complicated,” admits the center coordinator. To solve it – and calm the waters – there are the local social workers or educators, as well as the psychologists who care for each user. Other medical issues (allergies, colds, insulin…) are managed by their six auxiliary nurses.

There are no translators for migrant women. Herguera explains it like this: “Coming from a long history of being homeless, but living in Spain, they usually know the language.” So, until now, they haven't needed it. There are also some men among their staff. Not many, just a few. But they find it positive that they also live with them in the center – again, it is something that allows them not to be included in a specific network for gender violence – and that they demystify many attitudes that “have inevitably linked men” but that , in reality, belong to or are intensified in “those they have met,” the employee continues..

20% of homeless people are women

Represented through Marta's testimony – the rest preferred not to speak out of fear, shame, distrust and various reasons – the 35 women who live in this pilot center in Hortaleza have more hope today than yesterday.. However, many more remain outside.. Of the 39,487 homeless people that the Catholic organization Caritas assisted last year, two out of every ten were women. The figure may seem ridiculous. But when you look back, things change slightly.. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in the last decade (between 2012 and 2022, the last year recorded) the percentage of women in the total number of homeless people compiled by the public body rose from 19.7% ten years ago. years until reaching 23.3%, the last period.

Last year there were 28,552 people who attended accommodation or restaurant centers as users, according to the public statistics agency.. Of this total count, the percentage of women was very similar to that offered by Cáritas: they were 6,652 compared to 21,900 men, and the number of foreigners or nationals was also almost on par, with 2,955 migrants and some more Spanish, 3,697. Of all these people, homeless women have almost more university studies than men, with 12.4%, while men have 7.7%.. They are also those who perceive the most mental health problems when living in a street situation.. Almost seven out of ten women consider it this way, when six out of ten men present some depressive symptoms during their care..

In Madrid, the last count of homeless people that is known, unless it is official, is from 2018. It was prepared by the Madrid City Council, which estimated that there were around 650 people who were living on the streets at that time.. It was before the pandemic, and the City Council recognizes that they do not know the current data. But they do highlight the work carried out by street teams, groups made up of lawyers, mediators, psychologists or social workers who sweep the nooks and crannies of the capital to identify people who, even in an extreme situation, do not go to municipal services. due to reluctance or ignorance.

The head of the Department of Homelessness Prevention and Care for Homeless People at the City Council – which coordinates these search networks – Yolanda García, speaks to El Confidencial to explain how they reach them.. Many times through notices from neighbors, who repeatedly see the same people on their streets and notify the authorities.. So they go there, usually more than once. They observe where they spend the night, what needs they have, what benefits they could offer them…. Maybe they have to manage a registration, or they are unaware of the network resources they manage.

In total, García details, there are 1,157 places for homeless people, but through different mechanisms: 650 in reception centers, the 175 places in homes prepared to temporarily accommodate these people, or the 180 shared accommodations available. Among this range of options, the recent women's center, where Marta lives, stands out. “Being a woman and being on the street is a double risk,” admits the municipal official. When one of them is forced into that situation, she continues, it is usually because before “she has had very toxic relationships” that make her feel like she doesn't deserve more. Therefore, housing them all – despite the fact that there are only 35 women who can choose to enter the center – is one more step to overcome abuse and get off the streets, once and for all.