Arrels Fundació has asked Barcelona City Council to provide more places where people sleeping rough can escape summer heat, including additional climate shelters open in August and small rest areas in every neighbourhood.

The request matters to Barcelona residents because it would require more neighbourhood facilities to be available during heatwaves, when people living outdoors have limited access to cool, shaded places to rest. The proposal is a call for action, rather than an announced change: the supplied material does not confirm new council opening hours or additional sites.

According to reporting by betevé, based on ACN reporting, Arrels made the request on Tuesday as the city faces summer heatwaves.

Arrels says existing responses are insufficient

On its published proposals for Barcelona, Arrels Fundació says that more than 1,300 people live directly on the city’s streets. It describes Barcelona as the Catalan municipality receiving the largest number of people living outdoors, while also offering the most public and private responses.

“Barcelona is the Catalan municipality that welcomes the most people living in the open and also the one that offers the most public and private responses, although insufficient,” Arrels says.

The charity’s request for August shelters and neighbourhood rest spaces focuses on immediate protection from high temperatures for people who cannot reliably access indoor accommodation.

Housing access remains part of the charity’s wider proposal

Arrels also argues that preventing homelessness requires access to housing, not solely social services. It says public housing in Barcelona accounts for no more than 2% of the housing stock and can be difficult for homeless people to access.

The Barcelona Plan to Fight Homelessness for 2016–2020 aimed to provide 150 homes through the Housing First model, which places people in permanent housing before addressing other support needs. Arrels says that target was not achieved.

Reported by Source Text Link, ARA, arrelsfundacio.org, Marta Rodríguez Carrera, Carlos Losada, catalannews.com, Gerard Pruna, CatalunyaPress.es, Stephen Burgen, Albert González Farran, isocial.cat, El Periódico, e.f, betevé.