The minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security spoke to Lusa agency at the end of a meeting with homeless people, in which one of the main messages was the importance of being heard.

Taking stock of what has been done in this area and the Government's objectives, Ana Mendes Godinho revealed that the development of the platform for identifying all homeless people is in its final phase.

The objective will be, after identifying all the cases, to understand the difficulties of each person and provide personalized answers.

“We now have a much more comprehensive knowledge of the situation, which allows us to later also find tailor-made solutions”, summed up the minister, stressing the importance of this customization to ensure the best possible support for each situation.

This is because people have different paths, she explained, reporting that today's meeting, the second of many that the tutelage intends to maintain, was illustrative of that.

“These are very different life stories, people with very different paths in life, but they have also helped us to identify concrete problems they feel or solutions that can make a difference in their life path”, explained Ana Mendes Godinho.

One of these solutions, which came out of the first meeting, is already underway and the assessment is positive. These are the “Housing First” and Shared Apartments programs to promote access to housing for homeless people.

"The feedback is very positive", said the minister, reporting that "they are unanimous in saying that this change in perspective is essential, for the person to ensure that they have a roof to, from there, rebuild their life"

The Government aims to house 1,100 homeless people by the end of the year, and a competition is currently underway for 600 places, in addition to the approximately 300 that have already been reintegrated in this area.

“Our permanent ambition is to expand this program as much as possible, to ensure that this basic condition of having a home is, in fact, the essential element for reintegration”, pointed out the government official.

At the meeting that took place today for over an hour at the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Safety at Work, Ana Mendes Godinho was accompanied by the executive manager of the National Strategy for the Integration of Homeless People, Henrique Joaquim, and nine people in homeless situation.

The next one has already been scheduled, in two months' time, and to maintain these regular meetings, with the objective of hearing people firsthand and, with them, finding solutions, evaluating and improving the answers already in progress.