Speaking to Lusa News Agency, the president of Escola Superior Saúde Santa Maria, José Manuel Silva, said that the project “Porto Sentido - Housing, Training, Reinsertion” intends that people in homeless situations in Porto “have what it is indispensable to any human being": a roof and a key that gives them access to their space.

Porto Sentido, financed at around 700 thousand Euros by the Norte 2020 programme, is already supporting around 30 people.

"The requirements are related to the motivation of people to integrate a project with these characteristics. Therefore, the main factor is the motivation and intrinsic characteristics of people," said José Manuel Silva.

The beneficiaries of the project are being housed in residences provided by the municipality, Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Porto and in accommodation rented specifically for the project.

"It is about starting by providing accommodation with the aim of people following training and monitoring program that, in the end, allows them to become autonomous", he added.

In addition to "a roof", beneficiaries also have an individual health plan, monitored by a psychologist and a nurse at Escola Superior Saúde Santa Maria.

"This project also includes a health dimension related to an individual health plan for each one of them", said José Manuel Silva, adding that, it was found that the majority of homeless people suffer from "serious problems".

In this sense, in coordination with the organization Mundo a Sorrir, the coordinators are organizing an oral health plan, for which they are looking for donators, since oral hygiene is not included in the financing.

"The individual health plan is fully funded, the question that arises is that the oral health program was not initially planned", explained the official.

Another goal of Porto Sentido is to professionally reintegrate groups according to the professional qualifications of each one, with a Training Scholarship available for this purpose, which companies can use.

"Companies can make themselves available to receive as collaborators the beneficiaries of the program who have the skills to include themselves in specific jobs for each company", explained José Manuel Silva, adding that there will be monitoring by the facilitators during the trial period.

"Several are already in the labor market", he said, adding that "the goal is for people to be autonomous from a social and professional point of view, to be able to organize like any of us, with their own space, jobs and basic supplies".