Unsubscribing from the internet, unplugging the radiators, making diapers with sheets or asking for help for medicines are ways that emancipated young people, families with children or single women in a precarious situation turn to who does not arrive a social protection system overwhelmed by the pandemic a year after the beginning of the crisis.

“The administration has functioned according to the rules, but we have benefits that have their limits and the social protection system is not designed for this impact,” the social studies coordinator at Funcas (an analysis center created by the Fundación de Savings Banks), Elisa Chuliá.
In Spain, the sociologist adds, there is a “powerful” pension system that protects “reasonably well” the elderly, something that does not happen with other part of the population such as unemployed young people or people who did not contribute enough for their jobs such as to receive benefits.
“Many of them have already formed their own families and it is the population that has been hit the hardest, especially the less qualified and with more unstable jobs or in the informal sector,” says Chuliá.

PROBLEMS BEYOND LACK OF FOOD

In general, the researcher adds, the distance between the more and less qualified widens and poses a problem of social cohesion that ends up showing conflicts such as restlessness, dissatisfaction and possible mobilizations, since “when people have nothing to lose, they go to the Street”.
At the moment, “the situation is contained and the State is making efforts, but above all what must be valued is the work of the NGOs, which are doing essential work,” says the expert.
Like Chuliá, the vice president of the Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Madrid (Fravm), Javier Cuenca, explains that despite the fact that unemployment “does not make any difference, young people have against them having precarious jobs, very temporary contracts.”
One of the most affected sectors in Spain is hospitality and tourism, due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, which caused the closure of many hotels, bars and restaurants.
Placing a plate on the table is “the first necessity, but you can cope with it because more or less there is always someone who is going to give you food aid,” says Cuenca, but there are other expenses such as supplies.
“There are people who have had to do without the internet, remove radiators so as not to waste electricity, many people have asked us for warm clothes for that reason,” explains the neighborhood representative.
Added to this is the payment of mortgages and rents, especially in large cities, where this expense is very high, as is the case in the capital.
“We must continue to strengthen social services,” underlines Cuenca, who acknowledges that before the pandemic it was already weak in Madrid.

JESSICA, SICK WITH CANCER, CUTS SHEETS TO MAKE DIAPERS

Javier Cuenca chairs an association in a popular neighborhood in Madrid that helps vulnerable people with the cost of medicines, such as Jessica, a 46-year-old unemployed, without family support and suffering from cancer.
This woman was diagnosed two years ago with lung and colon cancer, which is gradually overcoming, but is having a “fatal” because the economy is drowning her.
Since he left his job about a year and a half ago, he has no income and has been selling his belongings to make ends meet. At this moment she can no longer afford to pay the rent for the small apartment where she lives and the bank urges her to collect debts.
Aside from the drugs, it is not enough for the diapers he needs (one of the side effects of chemotherapy is diarrhea): “I have cut sheets to make diapers”, but “sometimes I don’t even have detergent to wash.” “I’m on the edge, but I’m alone and I can’t give up,” says Jessica.

THE WEAR OF SOLIDARITY

Social assistance is slow to arrive because “administrations are still very slow,” says the neighborhood representative, since although the workforce was reinforced, “requests for help also increase exponentially.”
The Spanish Government approved last May a minimum income of 430 euros (about $ 520) on average, for the most vulnerable people but its processing is very slow and cumbersome, which slowed its implementation, as reported by social organizations.
The pandemic “has lasted a long time and the situation today is one of wear and tear, fatigue and even reluctance”, so “far from being solved, as the days go by it continues to worsen,” Cuenca denounces.

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