Cáritas in Burgos, Spain, Reactivates Winter Night Shelter for Homeless People Through April 30, 2027

Cáritas is reactivating the Unidad de Mínima Exigencia (UME), a municipal resource that the social organization manages to provide night-time care for homeless people who are in chronic street situations and have a higher degree of vulnerability. As in previous years around this time, the facility is designed as night-time support during the winter months and will operate until April 30, 2027.

The service has eight places and is open every day of the week from nine at night until eight in the morning. It is located at San Francisco Street, number 8, with entrance through the Doctor Vara park. Offering a safe place to rest through the winter nights is a concrete way of protecting the vulnerable (Psalm 82:3).

According to the organization, the UME offers a space for reception and listening, night-time stay, personal hygiene, and coverage of basic needs. It also provides social and health education, information, guidance and advice, and the initiation and accompaniment of processes aimed at improving the situation of the people served.

The resource has a professional team of two monitors who work the night shift, Monday through Sunday, and a social educator who provides attention Monday through Friday, from 10 to 12:30. Volunteers also support the service. David Polo, coordinator of the Homeless Persons program at Cáritas Burgos, leads the program.

Care is aimed primarily at people who have been on the street for a long time, both in the city of Burgos and in the province. For people living outside the city, access is subject to prior coordination. The service is also limited to people who are not users of the Hogar San Francisco shelter. The organization says these are “profiles that are already known to some of the resources and services that participate in the referral circuits.”

Access is arranged through coordination and referral from the Centros de Acción Social (CEAS), the Servicio de Urgencias Sociales (SUS), the social emergency services of HUBU-SACYL, the Café-Calor program, and the Cáritas Reception Service for Homeless Persons, among other resources and entities. In all cases, the corresponding coordination protocols are established to guarantee appropriate care for each situation.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)