Close to 1 million Spaniards received help from Caritas to meet their basic needs in 2010.
- 300,000 were assisted for the first time
- 74% of those seeking aid were families
- 70% of those requesting assistance came after receiving little aid from government-run social services
- this is nearly 550,000 more than reported three years ago.
Caritas believes these figures reflect the depth of the economic crisis in Spain, and according to Francisco Lorenzo, Caritas’ study team co-ordinator, Spain’s social service programs are overly burdened by excessive bureaucracy, have limited resources, and lack personalised follow-up.
Lorenzo pointed out that while applicants waited only four days for their first interview with a Caritas worker, they waited almost one month for a similar interview with a government social worker.
According to Lorenzo, most applicants are unemployed people have been unable to find work for an extended period, parents between the ages of 20 and 40 with one or two small children, unemployed young people seeking first-time employment, and single mothers.
Amid the increase in applicants–which so far this year numbers 1.8 million–the Catholic Church in Spain has doubled the amount of money it has set aside for economic assistance for families, totaling $43 million. Roughly 42 percent of funds set aside last year were used for food assistance, while 32 percent went to help pay for rent and mortgages.
The secretary general of Caritas in Spain, Sebastian Mora, said the report was not meant to be a “criticism” of public services but rather “a call to social and political institutions and organizations to work responsibly.” Caritas seeks to complement and not substitute the work done by social services, he said.
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