Exclusión residencial en Cartagena y recursos de apoyo socialanálisis cuantitativo y cualitativo

Abstract

Social exclusion is a complex, multidimensional and dynamic phenomenon. People who suffer it, do not only present difficulties in the economic dimension, but, in turn, accumulate disadvantages in other areas. This study considers seven dimensions of social exclusion: education, social-family relationships, employment, economy, health, participation, and housing. The configuration of the realities of social exclusion is very diverse and of different intensity in each person and context. Situations of social exclusion are reflected with great sharpness in the realities of homelessness or residential exclusion, reaching their maximum intensity in the homeless. The absence of housing goes beyond the fact of not having a place to sleep or wash. It deprives the person who suffers it of a space for the development of family and peer relationships, as well as of a space of safety, memories, and affection. Although the opposite might be expected, situations of poverty and exclusion have been increasing in quantity and intensity. Not only are more people in situations of social precariousness, but the realities of exclusion they suffer are also harsher and more complex. These extreme manifestations of poverty are those suffered by the homeless, which become visible in the daily life of advanced societies. The main objective of the research is to analyze the processes of residential exclusion in the city of Cartagena from a multidimensional perspective; that is, taking into account the situation of people in residential exclusion in the seven dimensions that determine these processes (housing, education, income, work, health, socio-family relations and participation); as well as knowing the adequacy between the needs of this group and the social resources offered in the mentioned municipality. For this, four specific objectives have been set: the first one has been to determine the sociodemographic profile of people affected by residential exclusion in Cartagena, taking into account various classification variables; the second one consists of approaching the social risk of people in a situation of residential exclusion from a multidimensional approach; the third one aims at knowing the policies to fight social and residential exclusion that are offered from the different institutional, public and private levels; and the fourth one wants to make effective intervention proposals that respond to the needs of people in situations of residential exclusion in Cartagena. To achieve the listed objectives, a mixed methodology has been implemented, supported by primary and secondary sources. The primary sources exploited have been three: a survey of users at risk of residential exclusion, carried out in November 2016 in Cartagena; fifteen in-depth interviews with professionals of municipal social intervention; and a discussion group with nine technicians from the city's social entities. On the other hand, in relation to secondary sources, a bibliographic review of the most relevant previous studies has been carried out; and a documentary analysis of public policies, through norms, plans and programs, aimed at fighting against residential exclusion has been conducted. As the main conclusions drawn from this research, it is highlighted that that the profile of residential exclusion in Cartagena is mainly male, of intermediate age (30-65 years), Spanish nationality and is mainly concentrated in situations of unsafe housing. It is also shown that sex, combined with nationalities, also determines the different levels of social risk. In this way, the profile with the greatest accumulation of social disadvantages is linked to the Spanish female sex, on the one hand, and to a man of foreign nationality, on the other hand. The situations of exclusion displayed are linked to the lack of financial resources to maintain accommodation. The institutional response to the housing problem has been proved ineffective.