CAI: Municipal Receptionand Inclusion Centre for homeless people (Alicante) [Gestión finalizada]

The Reception and Inclusion Centre for Homeless People (CAI-Alicante) is a municipally owned facility that opened its doors in August 2002 and was managed by Fundación Salud y Comunidad until November 2024. Its objective as defined in the Plan Municipal de Atención a Personas Sin Hogar is to improve the quality of life of these people and boost their chances of social inclusion as citizens with full rights, based on their own demands, abilities and potential.

It offers five residential programmes: reception, inclusion, low threshold, social and health emergencies, and bridge places with the city’s social centres, as well as non-residential services: dining hall, day centre, showers, clothing bank, left-luggage, external laundry and a street team. In addition to these programmes, in 2016 the first housing unit following the housing first model was launched in Alicante, together with a range of community follow-up work outside the centre.

Over the last year this service has assisted more than 1,300 people, 674 of whom took part in residential programmes (20% women and 80% men).

Incorporating a specific focus on the situation of women in residential exclusion, a frequently invisible reality, has led to the progressive implementation of actions designed with a gender perspective. Likewise, the service pays special attention to situations involving greater vulnerability, such as people in whom residential exclusion coincides with severe mental health disorders.

In addition to direct support for homeless people, extensive networking is carried out with other organisations with the aim of sharing knowledge, fostering coordination and raising public awareness.