President of the Portuguese Republic praises homelessness approach by the city of Porto

The meeting of the National Strategy Group Work for the Integration of the Homeless, an initiative by the Presidency of the Republic, and the competent officials in the municipality of Porto was held in the city of Porto, at the former Joaquim Urbano Hospital, currently an emergency reception centre, on 2 May.

The closed meeting was attended by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira.

The President of the Republic is committed to establishing a robust National Strategy, capable of tackling homelessness with a view to people's social integration by 2023.

At the end of this meeting, held behind closed doors, at the Emergency Reception Centre, the President of the Republic stated that "the meeting was an opportunity to becoming aware of the survey taken by the several municipalities in the country regarding the number of people who are homeless, and the number is 3059".

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa praised the way the municipality of Porto has been tackling this social scourge, namely the establishment of the Emergency Reception Centre, a pilot project at national level, created by Porto City Hall with the institutional support of Porto Healthcare Centre in September 2017, which has been a true beacon for people who are in a severe situation of housing and health deprivation.