A complex situation exists in the commune of Santiago, where the installation of homeless people has become recurrent in the central lane of the Alameda. The regional government called on the Executive to present a strategy to deal with this scenario.
A brief walk along the Alameda is enough to find a series of places occupied by people living on the street, with the installation of rucoscamping tents or benches with pillows and blankets.
The busiest places are located between Calle Teatinos and Almirante Latorre, but you can also see facilities in Parque Balmaceda, on the Providencia border with Santiago.
The mayoress of Santiago, Iraqi Hassler He pointed out that regarding 1,500 people live on the streets in the commune, out of the 8,000 in the Metropolitan Region.
Along these lines, he asked the Government for more places in shelters.
“Our teams count regarding 1,500 people living on the streets in Santiago out of the more than 8,000 in the Metropolitan Region, and this implies different public policies. Today we are addressing it from the recovery of the spaces, delivering shelter alternatives in coordination with the Ministry of Social Development. However, we need to increase the number of places in shelters that the central government can provide”, requested the mayor.
For his part, the Governor of the Metropolitan Region, claudio orregomade a harsh criticism of the Ministry of Social Development and called on it to develop a strategy to deal with the situation.
“Public spaces are for all citizens to occupy, not for people to live. That is not normal and we cannot normalize it. Those people are going to have to get out of there. Now where do they go, that is what we have asked the government since day 1,” Orrego said.
The metropolitan governor added that “The Ministry of Social Development must have a strategy for people living on the streets. We have been in this government for almost a year and we do not have a single strategy. We have requested the cadastre that you indicate and they have not wanted to deliver it. It is difficult for us to address a phenomenon for which we do not have all the information”.
For her part, the presidential delegate of the Metropolitan Region, Constanza Martinezpointed out that together with the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of the Interior they are designing measures to reduce the population living on the streets in the Alameda-Providencia axis.
Regarding the content of these strategies, the presidential delegate pointed out that they are in a “work and evaluation period”.
