Homelessness in Barcelona: A Non-Experimental Study

The Barcelona Chair of Housing Studies presents a new study by Dr. Wellington Migliari that addresses homelessness in Barcelona from a multidimensional perspective, emphasizing the relationship between people living on the streets and public administrations.

The research, titled “People on the Streets: Disintegration, Autonomy, and Administrative Law. The Case of Barcelona,” is based on 24 semi-structured interviews conducted with people living on the streets of the city. The study is part of a broader project initiated in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) in 2023, under the direction of Dr. Ludmila Mendonça Lopes Ribeiro, which concluded in 2024. The Barcelona context, however, presents particularities that distinguish it from the Brazilian case, such as the fact that 7 out of 10 people living on the streets in Barcelona are immigrants, whereas in Belo Horizonte none were found. Furthermore, the educational level of the interviewees in Barcelona is higher, with more people holding higher education and technical degrees.

The main objective of the research is to identify three different dimensions of the homelessness phenomenon. The first delves into the life trajectory of the interviewees, with questions about personal and family aspects during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The second explores the perception of those affected regarding institutional violence in public and social assistance services. The third focuses on the participants’ perception of police violence during their contact with law enforcement.

One of the most notable aspects of the study is the identification of social disintegration as a process of progressive rupture and distancing between individuals and public institutions. This disintegration manifests especially in the dimensions of institutional and police violence, where uncertainty about the response of public agents operates as a silent but deeply destabilizing mechanism. The research finds that public administration often requires the presence of a third party or “guarantor” to confirm the affected person’s word, an informal practice that contradicts Article 3 of Law 39/2015 and undermines the legal capacity of those affected.

Drawing on Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition, the study argues that active listening constitutes an inseparable element of the right to good administration, especially when indeterminate legal concepts such as special vulnerability are at stake. Faced with the threat of administrative automation, Law 26/2010 and the recent Bill against Homelessness in Catalonia reinforce the need for the human factor.

The research concludes that reversing social disintegration requires transforming the administrative relationship from within, recognizing the voice and autonomy of homeless people. The study also highlights that the definition of social disintegration does not start from a pre-existing theoretical framework applied deductively, but rather emerges from the responses and narratives of the interviewees, which reinforces its validity and explanatory capacity.

Recommended citation: Migliari, W. (2026). Personas en la calle: desintegración, autonomía y derecho administrativo. El caso de Barcelona. Càtedra Barcelona d’Estudis d’Habitatge.