Adults who live in the streets of Buenos Aires: public policies provide solutions or contribute to the social segmentation?

MARTÍN BOY

Ciudad del Cabo

Workshop; Poverty and Politics in Middle Income Countries; 2012

University of Western Cape, CROP, International Social Science Council y Universitas Bergensis

Adults who live in the streets of Buenos Aires: public policies provide solutions or contribute to the social segmentation? The economy of Argentina has grown 8% per year approximately since 2003, the unemployment decreased from 25% to 7% and the amount of people living in poverty and indigence situation reduced noticeably. However, this improvement of the social situation was accompanied by an increase of ALS in Buenos Aires city. Apparently, all this information can be read like a contradiction but it is not. Which are the reasons that explain the increase of people living in the streets? This social problem was incorporated in the public agenda of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires? At the same time, the city of Buenos Aires has experienced a strong process of social segregation and social segmentation since 1990s. Schematically, I can say that high and upper middle class live in the north of the city and that the lower middle class and poor people live in the south with social indicators extremely different between both areas. This disparity can be observed in the central zone of the city where transnational companies are localized and that is busy by a million of people who works in offices during the day and by ?cartoneros? (persons who recollect trash to resell) and ALS at night that find in downtown a secure and rich zone in resources that can be recollect and resold. The overcrowding of these new kinds of poverty in the central zones caused that five social programs have been created to attend the homelessness of the Buenos Aires city since 1997. The original diagnosis that was made by the public administration said that the labor market had changed suddenly and caused that a large number of people were not skilled enough to be part of it. Though this is partly certain, at the moment of to create solutions thought the adults that live on the street as solitary subjects leaving sideways the social networks that create in the public space to survive. The policies designed and implemented are characterized for being focalized in poor people, decentralized with budget of local public administration and for having a welfare approach. In what measure these politics resolve the problems of the people that live on the street? These social programs provide final solutions or they finish fortifying the social segmentation? Personal Information: Address: Castro 1126 3º12. Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Post Code: 1237. Phone: (0054) 11 4957-3890. E-mail address: martinboy.boy@gmail.com