“The new strategy introduces a set of measures, with a focus on prevention and the creation of an integrated system for alerting risk situations”, stated the Council of Ministers seven hours after the ‘briefing’ of the meeting.

The strategy foresees “personalised intervention with case managers at a local level”, and an increase in the ‘housing first’ project and shared apartments.

The ‘housing first’ project first emerged in the United States of America 20 years ago and was introduced in Portugal in 2009, with 90% of people welcoming the initiative.

In this project, people are integrated into individual homes and are monitored and taught how to manage a home with a view to their social integration.

The previous National Strategy for the Integration of Homeless People ended at the end of 2023 and was extended on December 21st until the end of 2024.

More than 10,700 people were homeless in 2022, according to the most recent official data available, in which for the first time a survey was conducted in all municipalities in mainland Portugal.

In the last three years, according to the coordinator of the National Strategy for the Integration of Homeless People, around 2,500 people have been helped from homelessness.