“Like many cities in the world, Barcelona has a significant homeless population, of which around 10% are women. However, until now, this population has been little studied in Barcelona, especially in the case of women,” explains the lead researcher of the study, Cristina Lidón.

Thanks to the financial aid obtained in the Social Research Call 2023 of the Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation, Lidón has promoted the project entitled “A gender perspective study of homelessness in Barcelona”, with which the multidisciplinary group of researchers wants to analyse the particularly vulnerable situation of women living in homeless situations in Barcelona in terms of health, mental health and addictions. The aim is to work on specific programmes that increase their use of health and social resources and, ultimately, their social reintegration. They also have the collaboration of the Municipal Institute of Social Services of the Barcelona City Council.

Emiliano Navarro, a predoctoral student who is part of the project, says:  “With this line of work focused on mental health and addictions in vulnerable populations, we want to find out more about the situation of homeless women in the city of Barcelona, and explore the mechanisms that have led to the constant increase of women in this situation.” The results of this project, which will be developed over the next two years, will “increase the recognition, mitigation and scientific evidence on the effects of homelessness. In addition, we will be able to work on preventive interventions and strategies to mitigate this situation in the most vulnerable populations, as well as define resources in health and social strategies that adapt to the specific characteristics and needs of women who are homeless,” the researchers have added. These ideas were discussed in the round table that took place within the framework of the Conference on Homelessness, Residential Exclusion and Health at the University of Girona on 22 May, and in which the researchers were invited to presented the project by Dr Fran Calvo, also a collaborator. 

To carry out the first phase of the study and interview the homeless people who are part of the sample population, the researchers are counting on the collaboration of students from UIC Barcelona. “Social responsibility is one of the features that identifies our University, and we believe that having volunteer students who care about the situation of the most disadvantaged people who live around them, not only allows us to develop the project but is also a very enriching experience from a personal point of view for them. For this reason, we encourage them to participate through the volunteer programme in social integration offered by UIC Barcelona.”