Speaking to Lusa agency, on the day the summary of results from the Homeless Persons Characterization Survey for the year 2022 was released, Henrique Joaquim revealed that between 2020 and 2022 it was possible to stop "around 2,500 people" from experiencing homelessness.

"We are obviously talking about 2020, 2021, and even 2022, as particularly complicated years due to Covid and after the crisis, inflation", he highlighted.

He added that there are currently around a thousand places registered, either under the 'housing-first' regime or in shared housing, with "occupancy rates above 80%", with a further 380 places expected to be approved soon.

"Since this response is working, we are talking about 2020, 2021, and 2022, more than 850 people have already passed through these vacancies", revealed Henrique Joaquim.

He also mentioned that for these three years, these responses represented an investment of more than 5.5 million euros, via the State Budget, in addition to the projects supported by the European Social Fund, which "already has new notices [for competitions] open in all the regions, except the north, which will start in 2024".

"So that we can continue to increase responses for these people in the municipalities, that is, to give more consistency to this approach", he highlighted.

He also added that, since 2020, it has been possible to place more than 400 people in the job market, in joint work with the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP), in addition to having carried out "more than 2 thousand interventions in the area of training and monitoring".