Runaway inflation, a rise in interest rates or even higher energy prices are some of the elements that they are putting the country’s economic stability between a rock and a hard place, inevitably having negative effects on the pockets of Spaniards, especially those with lower incomes. So much so, that the pessimism about the children’s future employment of families in vulnerable situations has increased by 25% compared to before the pandemic, according to a study by the Universidad Pontificia Comillas.
In this sense, the Universidad Pontificia Comillas has produced a report in collaboration with the NGO A+Familias (an organization that supports vulnerable families in the Community of Madrid) based on interviews with 803 families in vulnerable situations in neighborhoods in the south of Madrid. Specifically, two waves of surveys were carried out in the same population, the first, in the 2019-2020 academic year, just before the pandemic was declared, and the second, in the 2021-2022 academic year.
Therefore, it appears from the data that more than half of families with temporary jobs are afraid of losing their home and that one in three workers, that is, 32.4% of them, is fairly or very uncertain about whether they will be able to continue paying the rent or the mortgage on the home they live in.
Likewise, the percentage of vulnerable households that state that your work situation is very detrimental to relationships in your family it has doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels. “My son tells me that my jobs are mediocre, that they are useless, that I work for nothing,” explains a mother of a family assisted by the A+Familias association. So much so that one in five families interviewed, that is, 20% think that the crisis is negatively influencing their family life; and they also affirm that conflictive relationships with children increase with economic hardship and with parents’ discomfort at work.
Such is the problem, that the A+Families association, which was born in 2020, works to address the circumstances in which these families live with financial supporteither through a model of digital coupons (thanks to an agreement with the startup that fights against food waste Encantado de Comarte), ‘La Caixa’ debit cards and Carrefour supermarket cards.
In addition to financial support, this organization offers families a individualized accompanimentthrough workshops, training and meetings, with the aim of achieve a process of social reintegration where families can leave the aid system and can be self-sufficient. In short, A+Familias, with the funds raised through crowdfunding campaigns and private donations has served more than 2,100 families with more than 400,000 euros in shopping baskets and debit cards.