Issued 20th of July
The objective is to contribute to the removal of homeless people from the streets of Funchal
At the end of a recent City Council Meeting, Pedro Calado assured everyone that the municipality is finalising a municipal regulation that aims to contribute to preventing homeless people from occupying, as they do, public spaces in the streets of Funchal.
About the Municipal Strategy for Homeless People, the president of the CMF also said, currently, the big problem is not economic needs, but the consumption of drugs, particularly synthetic drugs, because “today everyone has social support, including a place to sleep, bathe and eat,” and assures that there is even more social support to the associations and entities that provide, then support, including food distribution to homeless people.
In this case, in the increase of homeless people due to drug consumption, which he acknowledges has “increased a lot, both in Madeira and in the Azores”, the Mayor says that the municipality has “long since put its finger on the wound” and has warned of this “problem,” as well as the need for institutional collaboration between all entities in order to solve the situation.
The president of the CMF recalled, in a critical tone, the statements of the Secretary of State for Internal Affairs, in a recent visit to the Autonomous Region of Madeira, when he said that this was not a police problem: “I do not know in what reality these people live, but this is a problem that concerns everyone.” He countered, adding that “you have to control the amount of drugs people have. Fortunately, the PJ inaugurated and already has, here in Funchal, a laboratory for the analysis of these products, which will allow, in theory, that in less than 48 hours, the product can be identified.” This was to allow the identification of substances, which previously took a long time, including “months,” which delayed and even made impossible the necessary police action.
In addition to having already closed streets and closed vacant buildings, as well as the creation of solidarity housing (a project that will have continuity and expansion), awareness in schools, and collaboration with other entities, there are legal and legislative issues because the PSP has to have margins in which to act.
In this sense, he advocates that this legislative work be done in ALRAM and the Assembly of the Republic, allowing a more significant and better response to this problem.
The CMF, “within our competencies,” is preparing a regulation aimed at preventing homeless people from occupying public spaces in the conditions with which they currently do so.
“I also don’t like to see individuals sleeping on the street in front of a church, in front of a commercial establishment, a hotel unit,” stressed the Mayor, adding that he does not want, in this situation, more theories, but rather “action on the ground” in order to solve the problem, not forgetting, however, in this case of the homeless, to point the finger at the Confiança coalition, for having spent eight years in power without having done anything to resolve the situation.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
