DESCRIPTION OF THE GOOD PRACTICE

State Protected Households are meant to satisfy the basic housing needs of families with scarce economic resources and bigger difficulties to access decent and adequate housing. The laws applicable at the time define the general and personal conditions to meet to be considered an applicant.

It is essential to understand that the people that are helped with their housing needs come from social groups with special difficulties to access a household, such as: people with disabilities, the elderly and the youth, families raising three or more minors, single-parent families, people that have suffered family break-ups, victims of violence, immigrants, etc. In such cases, assistance is given to families with various difficulties that barely or never use their household.

Most of these family units are at risk of or socially excluded. Social exclusion cannot be explained on account of a single cause, nor its disadvantages come alone. That is why interdisciplinary work is so relevant. Having a social-educational team of this kind, that puts in practice the necessary strategies and methodology for intervention, makes it possible to cover ample population sectors that are vulnerable, and therefore subject to become at risk of social exclusion.

When dealing with families in this situation, there are two ways for professional practice. First, there is monitoring. Home visits and actions are done by the team during a certain period of time, which can vary in each case. Second, and when the case is needed, there are other sorts of interventions that follow a specific set of guidelines called Family Intervention Plan (PIF), which details the points that need special reinforcement on users.

Since the main goal of the intervention is social inclusion, it is probably necessary to intervene in several indicators of exclusion. For that reason, the team is coordinated at all times with the Social Services in the different city districts. In this sense, families allocated with a household by the FRES Committee are monitored in coordination with the IMV’s Inspection Service, the Community Centres for Social Services (CSSCs), and other local community work services such as the Service for Community Mediation, which works first-hand at the scenarios of coexistence dealing with the different situations of neighbour cohabitation.

The intention is to consolidate the current team, while broadening the service with a new social-educational intervention team, as well as a qualified technician on social community intervention, in order to reinforce the Service for Rental Dwellings Management and, finally, supporting social inclusion of family units at risk of or socially excluded.