The Arrecife City Council has announced that it has granted a total of 1,110 social aid packages from January to September 30, 2021, for an amount of up to 1,077,924.04 euros. The Consistory points out that the government group has aimed at the “decongestion of social aid for the most vulnerable people, and even more so when the sudden Covid-19 pandemic put many families in the municipality in a situation of social emergency.”
According to data provided by the Department of Social Services, of the 1,100 social aid packages granted in the first nine months of the year, 540 were for rental aid, with an amount of 735,359.78 euros; 461 aid packages were allocated to food, with a total amount of 258,486.18 euros; and, finally, 99 were allocated to other concepts such as the supply of electricity, water or prostheses, with 84,078.08 euros.
“The Social Services Area has never functioned so quickly nor has it had so much staff to manage aid as it does now”, according to the mayoress, Astrid Pérez, who adds that “the City Council has had to assume powers from other administrations to avoid precarious situations in Arrecife, and has put municipal funds to cover the deficiencies of other institutions”.
“Aid is never enough when it comes to social emergency situations, but we are making a historic effort to try to cover the needs of the residents of Arrecife”, says the Councilor for Social Services, María Jesús Tovar.
Arrecife announces that almost 1,600 citizens are attended to each month
The Arrecife City Council adds that another of the measures that the government group put in place from the day after the declaration of the state of alarm due to Covid-19, was “a social emergency plan to process food aid for people who did not receive any type of benefit”. Currently, they add that Social Services maintains the free prior appointment telephone number 900 21 43 01 open from 8.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., where they will be informed of the steps to follow.
The Social Services Area of Arrecife currently has 11 social workers who are distributed among the three Social Work Units (UTS) that the municipality has, Center, North and South.
The Arrecife City Council adds that in the first nine months of this year, the 11 social workers “have attended to an average of 1,595 citizens who request information, the processing of aid from other administrations or other types of services”. This means that each of the 11 people assigned to Social Services, “see an average of 145 citizens each month, which means that the number of visits until the end of September yields a figure of 14,000 residents with specific realities and problems who use the services of the City Council to channel their needs in economic matters”.
214 requests for vulnerability reports
Arrecife adds that during the year 2021, the Social Services Area of the Arrecife City Council “has carried out a project to address requests related to eviction for non-payment of rent or mortgage”. From February 12, 2021 to September 29, dates for which data is available, Social Services “received 214 requests for vulnerability reports in the face of eviction situations, of which a total of 73 were issued by municipal competence”.
The Arrecife City Council adds that, through the Department of Social Services, it collaborates in this service carried out by the NGO Emerlan “distributing daily menus to people who cannot ensure their daily food, and who have the assistance of a social worker”.
“An average of 75 daily menus are distributed, more than 20,000 until September of this year, with an expense in these first nine months of 125,630.79 euros”, they point out from the City Council. During this time, they add that the Social Services of Arrecife has carried out, on the other hand, “960 reports of recognition of condition to receive aid from the different Food Banks. To these must be added the Home Help Service that is awarded to the entity CLECE, S.A. and that currently provides a service to 213 users”.
Regarding the Canary Insertion Benefit (PCI) during this 2021, from the Arrecife City Council they assure that Social Services have received “297 requests that have been initiated and processed, which represents 165 percent more in volume compared to 2020 and 220 percent more if we compare it with 2019, the year of pre-pandemic”.
Finally, from the Arrecife City Council they assure that they are currently active “204 files and another four in the process of resumption. The average number of visits to the PCI Department is 312 per month”