A heat shelter in La Latina to get the homeless off the streets

Last weekend, the first heat wave of this summer began, and judging by the recorded highs, it doesn't look like it will be any more merciful than last year's, which was hailed as one of the hottest in Spanish history. This will make life even more difficult, if possible, for the approximately 1,100 homeless people living on the streets of the capital. In response, the city council has set up a shelter at the Darío Pérez Madera Social Samur Center (in the La Latina neighborhood), where an average of ten homeless people arrive each day. There, they have access to showers and bathrooms for washing, chairs for resting, water, and food consisting of cold soups and sandwiches.

The other issue raised by the project is the language barrier that exists between many of those who seek shelter at the plant and the workers there. Since the majority are foreigners, often African, communicating their needs or requests is complicated. To this end, the City Council created a telephone code that connects with a translation service available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The required language must first be selected, but the service guarantees to provide communication in all the world's languages ​​and dialects. According to Cobo, this process doesn't usually lead to any conflicts; quite the opposite: "They appreciate hearing a voice that knows their language."

It opened on May 15 and will not close until September 30. However, access to this option is intermittent, as it is only open during periods when the Community of Madrid issues a Level 2 heat alert.

In designing and implementing this solution to Madrid's infernal climate, Samur Social has had to overcome the language barrier that exists between many of those seeking shelter at the plant and its workers. The city council, in this regard, created a telephone code that connects with a translation service available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The service guarantees to provide communication in all the world's languages ​​and dialects. According to Cobo, this process doesn't usually trigger any conflicts; quite the opposite: "They appreciate hearing a voice that knows their language."

The section head explains that those who come to the shelter tend to fall into two main profiles: sub-Saharan Africans whose migration plan in Madrid has been truncated, and Latin Americans waiting for their application for international protection or asylum to be resolved. In both cases, they are unable to access public housing alternatives due to long waiting lists, or simply do not want to opt for them.

Last summer, "demand for these resources was low," the Social Policy Department admits. It was a pilot project whose limited success is attributed by Samur Social to the lack of awareness among homeless people about the existence of these options.

To make this resource more attractive, an on-demand model was implemented starting in 2024: complete freedom of entry and exit during opening hours and with minimal questions asked only upon first entering the facility.

However, the number of homeless people arriving at the shelter during the first heat wave of the summer suggests that it will be even more profitable this year. In 2024, this facility was only able to host a second phase of the heat-relief plan for about 50 days, during which a total of 22 people were admitted. However, this past weekend alone, which marked the start of the first heat wave of the summer, 26 people have already visited the center.

The Vallecas shelter, which also performed this function in 2024, will not open until demand exceeds the capacity of the 12 permanent places at the Samur headquarters. However, for now, according to the department headed by José Fernández, the single location is responding perfectly to demand.

At Samur Social headquarters, they hope that word will spread this second time, since "homelessness is also a public health problem," Cobo says.