Universidad de la Sabana

Karen Martínez, Daniel Forero, Laura Yepes

Estudiantes de pregrado de psicología

Facultad de psicología

Chía 2020
 The phenomenon of street habitability: A communitarian approach to this to this
problem

The perception that has always been had about the people who live on the street is of

a negative nature, since the way they live generates a break in what is considered "normal"

for society. Activities that are carried out in private, the street inhabitants carry out them in

public spaces, what generates a rejection to develop this type of behaviors totally opposite to

those accepted by the society. The physical appearance, the threatening attitudes, altered

states of conscience, their interaction with people in public spaces, where normally they ask

for money in a good or bad way (Uddin MJ and others, 2009, quoted in MinSalud, 2018),

tend to generate fear in the other people for what it marginalizes them of the society.

The above mentioned responds to an urban social phenomenon, where the terms indigent and

street inhabitant are confused, which makes it difficult for these people to be immersed in the

problem and be included in projects and programs of social intervention (Nieto and Koller,

2015, cited in MinSalud, 2018), therefore distinctions must be established and limits set, in

order to obtain results that benefit in the framework of public policies that address this

phenomenon. For this same reason, guidelines were developed at the national level taking

into account this phenomenon of street dwellers, this being the target population.

It is important to make a difference when we speak of indigent and street inhabitant,

the difference is that indigence is seen as a political science matter while street habitability is

more a social matter. The social state of law is concerned with the great phenomenon of street

habitability and the few strategies that have been implemented to mitigate it. In Colombia

there is Law 1641 of 2013 which aims to fight, protect and promote the rights of people who

are in a situation of street habitability, which serves to remedy in some way both physical and

emotional damage that has already been presented in each individual along his journey as a

street dweller. This phenomenon has been presented socially for several years, nevertheless,
many people usually confuse what is a street inhabitant and a homeless person, for what we

want to emphasize in the definition of street inhabitant: A person without distinction of sex,

race or age, who makes the street his or her permanent or transitory dwelling place and, who

has broken ties with his or her family environment (Goméz, 2013)

According to Freire (1970), those who are in that condition of limited resources, had

the idea that they cannot aspire to better living conditions. Although we can analyze with this

phenomenon we realize that it is multicausal, it can be that the individual develops street

habits either for: inequality, social exclusion, domestic violence, problematic consumption of

SPA, precariousness, forced displacement, among others. However, taking into account these

factors it is inevitable not to realize or stop to think about all the situations that these

individuals have to go through like: being exposed to the climatic conditions for which there

are more possibilities of contracting diseases and presenting health problems, being

constantly exposed to the humiliation of people, the constant reminder of unemployment,

without counting the mental health problems that they can also present as depression.

( MinSalud, 2018 )

Taking into account the increase that has been seen in the habitability of the street

according to the Bogotá census of 2017, it was found that there are more than 9,538

inhabitants of the street which were identified by direct interview (72.82%) and by

observation (27.18%) finding that the majority of the population are men with the (88.88%).

It is because of these statistics that the government has intervened to mitigate this

phenomenon by creating institutions such as IDIPRON (District Institution for the Protection

of Children and Youth) which seek to mitigate this phenomenon that affects part of the
Colombian population, in addition to promoting public policy for the prevention and

comprehensive care of the phenomenon of street living.

This project, also called Project 1108 in Colombia, has as its main objective to

promote the social inclusion of people who are street dwellers or at potential risk of being so.

Besides having a wide range of proposals that are aimed at the strengthening, development

and promotion of the previously mentioned people, seeking at all times an improvement in

their quality of life (which involves the economic, personal and social part). This government

proposal has been working since 2016 and has as its main objective more than 10,000 people

between 18 and 60 years old. It is a proposal that really encompasses a large number of

people and seeks to really promote the integrity of individuals who are in truly deplorable

conditions, in addition to giving a voice to this community that is affected in the country

(Secretary, S.F)

The above has specific objectives:

-To develop significant actions in the territories directed to the prevention of habitability in the streets

with populations in risk, the direct attention of the citizens who live in the streets, the

activation of attention routes and the understanding of the social phenomenon.

-To promote the entrance to processes of social inclusion of the homeless citizens and the populations

in risk of living in the street.

- To develop processes of social inclusion with the citizens inhabitants of street for their personal

development, labor formation and socioeconomic entailment

- Strengthen the autonomy, occupational capacities and skills as well as the constitution or

reestablishment of support networks of the citizens living on the streets

- Strengthen trans-sectoral coordination, follow-up of action plans and generation and dissemination

of knowledge to achieve the objectives of public policies on street living and adulthood"

(Secretariat, S.F.)

With this, we can observe that it is a really large scale project, a type of policy that

seeks to supply many of the needs present in this affected community, either because of lack

of opportunities, bad decisions or simply because they are in a family in these poor

conditions. We can see that it really seeks to do a job to attack this phenomenon that affects

many individuals in the country and not only seeks to solve these needs, but also seeks an

integration of the community NOT affected by this phenomenon in order to achieve inclusion

in society.

One of the most important aspects is participation and analyzing how it is an

elemental part of community psychology because it has become one of the psychological and

social processes to achieve the solution of community problems. It is implemented as a tool

which achieves the solution of conflicts. However, participation is also taken as a

fundamental need of the human being since thanks to it, basic needs are satisfied such as:

interacting with other people, creating and recreating things, developing self-critical thinking,

self-expression and more. (Arango, 2008)

Therefore the participation of street inhabitants in the programs and institutions that

the government offers to solve different conflicts or to supply their needs is valued. Many of

the institutional policies find the way in which the community participation achieves changes

within this same one, that is to say, institutions like the Colombian Institute of Family

Welfare, foundations protected by the government such as IDIPRON, Colectivo Aquí y

Ahora, Proyecto de Vida, Fundación de Luz and many others manage to see significant
changes within these groups from these models of participation in which the educational

processes that are implemented this model help to consider that not only these methodologies

should be conceived to provide optimal health conditions but it should be given a

participatory approach in which it should take into account the particular behavior patterns

and knowledge of the culture. (Montero, 2006)

If we take into account the objectives that we wanted to achieve with this model, such

as: offering the community a strategy of analysis and a respective collective reflection that

allows them to observe and consolidate the facts that make up this life experience, we can see

how institutions, and especially IDIPRON, which is the one we wanted to support in this

work, have managed to ensure that the people who obtain help and benefits from this

institution are able to carry out their respective reflection and, from this, generate strategies

for change that not only serve them individually but also the community.

Likewise, Nelson and Prilleltensky (2010) talk about this great problem and let us

know that it is always the "powerful" or the strongest people who write history, leaving aside

those who really are in need, so the implementation of such policies are necessary, however,

we must clarify that despite the good intentions and try to give back to these individuals their

voice, their right to tell their story as well, this policy is still very limited because it cannot

really cover all the fronts of street living, as it can only focus on one type of population, thus

leaving aside many of the people who also need this type of support (children), who are really

more vulnerable and who need their voice to be returned to them, their right to a dignified

quality of life in every aspect, full of opportunities.

 Furthermore, Montero (2006) shows us that by maintaining a position that benefits

the vulnerable community, change can be generated through respect, tolerance and

maintaining the principle of freedom of behavior, as this allows for a better approach to these

vulnerable communities, because it is recognized and they are given a voice with which they

can express their ideas. In addition, it is possible to achieve that these communities have a

deeper perspective and alienated from the mentality already established by the poor

conditions in which they are, and really seek a change in their living conditions through the

help of various projects that aim to culminate or provide a solution to the phenomenon of

street living.

On the other hand, a type of socio-political intervention exists which is carried out by

the state where they position themselves by means of policies of the government and the

development to which the state is exposed. This intervention is carried out through social

policies, where different objectives of the society are raised and integrated between them, this

way serving as a support for the development model, between these are the integration of the

society, the social control and the regulation of imbalances.

These proposals for social intervention must be complemented with ethical

foundations in relation to the unacceptable situation of certain individuals and these

interventions are contributions to the construction of modernity and social progress, thus

modernizing society (Corvalán,1996). The Ministry of Health and the Honorable

Constitutional Court (2018), carried out different communications in favor of the rights and

the protection of the street inhabitants where they guarantee them basic services, primacy of

the equality in the treatment, to be protected by the state, all this with the purpose of
guaranteeing worthy conditions of life as much for those that opted for this style of life as for

those that want to leave it.

In conclusion, the aim of this public policy is to generate a social change in which the

main agents involved (in this case the street inhabitants) and the intervention systems (entities

such as IDIPRON) are integrated in order to plan and carry out actions to generate a desirable

social change, achieving a better quality of life for the individuals who are beneficiaries of

the intervention action of this program, trying at all times to integrate those who are excluded

or at risk of being excluded into the various mechanisms of society, intervening at all times in

the problems shaped by the needy groups being defined as lacking by Montenegro (2001).
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LINKS

https://sitios.dane.gov.co/habitantes-calle-2018/
https://www.uninorte.edu.co/documents/4368250/0/El+habitante+de+la+calle+en+Colombia
+Presentaci%C3%B3n+desde+una+perspectiva+social-preventiva/98003d14-5fee-437b-
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Habitabilidad de calle
http://www.idipron.gov.co/sites/default/files/docs/transparencia/politicas-publicas-
lineamientos-sectoriales/pp-fenomeno-habitabilidad-calle.pdf
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entidad/proyectos/1561-proyecto-1108-prevencion-y-atencion-integral-del-fenomeno-de-
habitabilidad-en-calle