The restored building, in the historic area of ​​the capital, will house people in vulnerable situations, 46 of whom will be provided with temporary accommodation and two as emergency response, said the president of Santa Casa, Paulo Sousa.

According to the person in charge, this increases the response to situations identified daily by the National Emergency Line.

“This centre joins the recently opened Centro do Grilo, increasing the offer to a maximum capacity of 297 places under the management of Santa Casa”, he said.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Cardinal of Lisbon, Rui Valério, who highlighted the importance of welcoming those arriving in the city with dignity.

“It is through initiatives, constructions and buildings like this that those who visit us and come to us are essentially an opportunity to build with us a project, a country, a design that is called Portugal”, declared the cleric.

The president of the Lisbon City Council, Carlos Moedas, highlighted that the municipality launched a municipal plan for the next seven years, worth 70 million euros in this area.

“When we arrived in 2021, we had around 800 places to accommodate homeless people and today we have 1,200 and we want to reach 2,000,” said the mayor.

The Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, indicated that the Government has been “awake to this issue since day 1”, a problem of a national nature.

“There are 13 thousand people who are homeless and, in this case, it is an issue with particular incidence in the city of Lisbon, because 40% of people are here or in the Lisbon metropolitan area”, highlighted the minister.