Street population grows despite poverty decline – 12/29/2023 – Laura Machado

The homeless population grew 12% per year over the last 10 years, tripling in size, while poverty fluctuated, but fell and returned to the same level as a decade ago.

The homeless population is found where there is wealth, and not in the poorest areas. This evidence breaks some paradigms and can shed light on what we need to build, beyond traditional income transfer policies.

Our income-based social protection policy coincidentally increased significantly in the same period in which the homeless population tripled. Something is missing.

Europe, through its European Social Policy Network (ESPN), launched a series of reports with evidence on the topic. The data shows that over the last few years, depending on the availability of data for each country, the homeless population in Germany has increased by 15% per year and, in England, by 14%. In 12 other countries subject to analysis, only Finland did not register an increase.

We are dealing with a global problem. In Brazil, the increase is 12% per year, a constant growth over the last 10 years, a scenario very different from the perception that the problem was exclusively due to the pandemic. Before the Covid-19 crisis, this population had already grown 140% compared to 2012, according to the federal government’s CadÚnico (Cadastro Único).

The Brazilian states with the highest number of homeless people per inhabitants are also the richest: Mato Grosso, São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, in addition to the Federal District. The poorest, such as Alagoas, Amazonas, Maranhão and Pernambuco, are among the places with the lowest incidence.

Why, in a common picture of poverty, such as in the interior of the Northeast, with water scarcity and high vulnerability, do we not have such high rates of homeless people?

The city of São Paulo carried out a census with this population and some data draw attention: when asked about the reason for being on the streets, less than 5% attributed the reason to migration. In the survey, 74% declared that they lived alone before going to the streets and 69% declared that they lived with family members. When asked about motivations, 50.2% responded that they had experienced some type of break in ties.

One of the explanations for this phenomenon, with a higher rate of homelessness in richer territories, may be the strength of the support and coexistence network that poorer regions build, even out of necessity.

The understanding that we need to be supportive and welcoming (even because tomorrow it could be you in trouble) is what keeps many communities connected, despite the violation of the rights they experience. In a society with strengthened ties and communities, there is welcome and help.

Without a support network, in the event of a daily life vulnerable to extreme events such as hunger, family violence and abuse, the human reaction can also be extreme. With community ties increasingly weakened, the lack of connection sharpens this dramatic response to adverse events. In this case, drug addiction is more a consequence than a cause.

Income transfer and the fight against poverty are essential rights, but they do not replace the need for social protection that only belonging and community ties generate. If as a society, especially in richer places, we weaken reception, we may experience a worsening of extreme reactions that pure income transfer will not be able to reverse.

I do not specifically blame the homeless population or those involved in these episodes, but rather society as a whole. If part of our poverty comes from a lack of belonging, we need to learn a new way of approaching the challenges of adversity to which we are all susceptible.

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