Rising rent prices in Spain are stretching shelters to bursting point

A REFUGE in Mallorca has a two-month waiting list and claims the number of people seeking assistance has increased because of the increase in the cost of rented accommodation.
Es Refugi in Palma provides food and shelter for those who are socially excluded, and assists around 80 people on a daily basis, for whom the association provides their only home.
The majority of these people are long-term unemployed and over the age of 45 who either don’t receive benefits at all, or if they do, on more than €450 a month ‘which doesn’t pay for housing’.
During 2017, Es Refugi helped 108 ‘destitute people’. Ninety per cent of those either have no family or ‘only poor family relationships’.
An association source said for the most part, those who receive support are men who are single, separated or divorced.
And people over the age of 55 represent 52 per cent of those who go to the centre.