The Cabildo of Lanzarote, together with the Arrecife City Council, inaugurated this Monday the "Hogar El Puerto", a new social inclusion hostel of insular character, which will offer accommodation and essential services under the management of Emerlan.
This care resource will provide an immediate response to people who need short or medium-stay accommodation, who reside within the island territory and who cannot satisfy the basic personal needs of housing, food, and hygiene.
The president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, stressed that "from the Island Corporation we are deeply satisfied with the opening of this new space to serve the most vulnerable people." "With the commissioning of this shelter, the Cabildo of Lanzarote maintains its commitment to care for the most vulnerable groups on the island by supporting initiatives of social entities, considered a key and fundamental piece to provide effective responses to the problems of the population of Lanzarote, in addition to supporting local entities through inter-administrative collaboration in the search for real solutions to the demand and current housing pressure through the implementation of these services," he concluded.
For his part, the Minister of Social Welfare, Marci Acuña, added that "it is good news because, we finally have an infrastructure at the service of the people who need it most and we have a decent space in which they can be properly cared for."
Likewise, the Deputy Mayor of Arrecife, Echedey Eugenio, and the Councilor for Social Welfare, Maite Corujo, congratulated Emerlan "for giving us the opportunity to bring the social canteen of Arrecife to these facilities and be able to do a better job with people who are in a situation of decline," she said.
Finally, the director of Emerlan, Rubén López, stressed that "this project is a historic event that is made possible today thanks to the investment and will of the administrations and that is already available as another resource for the island."
The main objective of this service will be to assist, welcome, guide and accompany the beneficiaries at a psycho-socio-educational level in the process of improving their situation. It will offer accommodation, dinners, breakfasts, a clothing service and social, psychological and prevention care services, as well as individual health monitoring for people in social exclusion or at risk of suffering from it.
This new care and accommodation resource will remain open permanently from 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., from Monday to Sunday throughout the year, will have a capacity of more than 30 places and will be managed by the NGO Emerlan.
In addition to the expansion of places through the opening of this new resource, the Cabildo and the NGO Emerlan plan to create an urgent short-stay accommodation project for immediate responses to transit situations and referral to other resources.
The Cabildo de Lanzarote has a Social Inclusion and Intervention Service, in Calle Ginés de la Hoz in Titerroy, Arrecife. The aforementioned service has served more than 900 people since its launch, of which around 300 have been referred to the various social inclusion resources belonging to the Network of Centers coordinated by this Area.