The accommodation center for homeless people in the north wing of the former Manutenção Militar, in Beato, has been operating since Thursday, replacing the Santa Bárbara Barracks, in Arroios, the Lisbon city council said today.
“The new Municipal Emergency Reception Center (CAEM) was set up in record time following the agreement signed between Lisbon City Council and the government on February 29. This agreement provided for the Santa Bárbara Barracks to be vacated within 30 days,” the municipality said in a response to the Lusa news agency, noting that the new space has been up and running since Thursday.
In a request presented today, the councillor for the Left Bloc (BE), Beatriz Gomes Dias, questioned the mayor, Carlos Moedas (PSD), about the conditions in which the transfer of homeless people to the north wing of the former Military Maintenance was carried out, noting that the move was made to “a makeshift location, without the promised works”, and that there are complaints about the reception response, including the lack of hot water and electricity in the building.
In a response to Lusa, the Lisbon City Council (CML) said that the indication it has is that “at the moment everything will be operational and working as well as possible”, pointing out, however, that “there may have been a one-off situation, in a change of this size, but it was always promptly intervened and corrected”.
According to CML, CAEM in Beato has a team on site to resolve any technical issues that might be identified in the transfer process.
“At the moment, all [the technical issues] are practically resolved, allowing the space to function to its full potential,” he assured.
People experiencing homelessness “are a priority for CML”, the municipality stressed, highlighting the proposed Municipal Plan for People Experiencing Homelessness 2024/2030, which foresees an investment of 70 million euros in this area by 2030, and underlining that the council is working to “make Lisbon a city that cares, a city that takes care of those who need it most and leaves no one behind”.
Lusa also asked CML whether, considering the change of government [from the PS to the PSD], it was considering reversing the decision to relocate CAEM from the Santa Bárbara Barracks in Arroios to the north wing of the former Manutenção Militar in Beato, since in September 2023 the president of CML stated that, as far as the municipality was concerned, it would remain in that space, but received no reply.
Regarding the position of the Beato Parish Council, chaired by Silvino Correia (PS), which “does not support the city council’s decision to transfer more homeless people to this area of Lisbon”, CML said it had no comment to make.
In this context, the BE councillor also warned that the drug response teams, including the methadone vans, have had to reduce their hours by half, stressing that CML is responsible for part of the funding of these responses.
According to CML, this funding is defined by the Institute for Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies (ICAD), based on the amounts authorized by the previous government, in which the city council pays 20% of the total amount established.
“Any change will always depend on the government and ICAD and not on CML, which has nevertheless expressed serious concerns about the situation,” said the municipality.
On March 15, the mayor of Lisbon said that the new accommodation center for homeless people in the north wing of the former Manutenção Militar would open “around Easter”.
At stake is the relocation of the accommodation center in the Santa Bárbara Barracks, which was inaugurated in 2021, in the context of the covid-19 pandemic emergency, to provide support to people experiencing homelessness.
The opening of the space was the result of an investment of 1.2 million euros, decided by the previous executive, under the presidency of the PS, which governed under an agreement with the BE, knowing that it would be temporary.
