Press Release: Survey of Shelters and Care Services for Homeless People. Year 2024.

Main results

An average of 33,758 people over 18 years of age were accommodated daily in homeless shelters in 2024 (55.7% more than in 2022).
Shelters offering catering services served an average of 70,343 meals per day (36.9% more than in 2022).
Sheltered that were exclusively devoted to migrants offered a daily average of 20,911 bed places (97.2% more than in 2022), with an average of 17,786 occupied places (121.1% more than in 2022).
The average number of homes allocated to the Housing First/Housing Led programs was 1,086 (63.1% more than in 2022).

More information

Detailed results

Of the 1,375 shelters for homeless people in 2024 (17% more than in 2022), 1,119 provided accommodation services, 514 catering services and 473 occupational and/or educational services, while 146 performed street interventions.

26.1% of the shelters exclusively served homeless immigrants (as opposed to 20.0% in 2022), 7.4% served women victims of gender violence (7.2% in 2022) and the remaining 66.5% were not specialised or served another kind of specialisation (this percentage stood at 72.8% in 2022).

In terms of the ownership of the shelters, 22.0% were public and 78.0% were private.

57.8% of the shelters specialised in care for women victims of gender violence were public, while 42.2% were private. 6.7% of the shelters specialised in care for immigrants were publicly-owned and 93.3% were private.

As for the shelters with no specialisation or with another kind of specialisation, 24.0% were publicly-owned and 76.0% were private.

Population cared for and services

72.9% of the shelters catered for men and women indistinctly. 13.2% only accepted men and 13.8% only accepted women.

61.1% of the shelters declared that they were primarily oriented towards a specific situation, compared to 54.8% in 2022. The situations most frequently addressed were Immigration/application for international protection (51.9%) and Women victims of gender-based violence (17.9%). Less frequent were HIV/AIDS (2.0%) and Long-term illness/dependence (2.6%).

Shelters according to specific situation addressed¹. 2024

Percentage

¹Each shelter can accommodate more than one specific situation.

The main services provided by the shelters were Information and shelter (84.4%), Social care and support (80.1%) and Accommodation (79.9%).

The services aimed at the users’ social reintegration, such as Occupational workshops (14.3%), Reintegration workshops (16.8%), Legal assistance (40.4%) and Psychological assistance (46.5%), had a lower presence at the shelters.

The number of shelters that offered catering services (breakfasts, lunches, dinners, sandwiches, hot drinks) totalled 514 in 2024, a figure representing 37.4% of the shelters and an increase of 4.0% with respect to 2022.

On an average day, 21,711 breakfasts, 27,105 lunches and 21,527 dinners were served at the shelters. This meant a total of 70,343 daily services, 36.9% more than in 2022.

Human resources and funding of the shelters

The average number of people who worked at the homeless shelters in 2024 was 26,079. 45.5% were full-time workers and 54.5% were part-time workers.

In terms of their employment relationship, 51.7% of the workers received salaries, 43.5% were volunteers and 4.7% had some other kind of relationship (outsourced, student trainee, religious, etc.).

Simultaneously considering the kind of employment relationship and working hours, most of the human resources consisted of part-time volunteers (39.6% of the total) and full-time employees (38.8%).

85.7% of the shelters were financed solely or predominantly by the General Government. 7.9% were financed for the most part by their own funds, 2.6% by funds from private non-profit institutions, 1.8% by private donations and 0.8% by companies. The remaining 1.2% did not have a predominant funding source.

Shelters

A total of 1,119 shelters offered accommodation in 2024, 22.4% more than in 2022.

The average capacity of the accommodation network was 39,501 bedplaces per day, 48.0% more than in 2022. Some 33.9% were publicly-owned and 66.1% were private.

The average daily number of bed-places occupied by people over 18 years of age was 33,758, constituting an average occupancy of 85.5%. 24.6% of these bed-places were occupied by women.

It should be noted that the massive arrivals of immigrants to the Canary Islands and the distribution of immigrants led to an increase in the number of available accommodation places, especially in the winter period.

The average daily number of existing accommodation places in migrant-specific centres was 20,911, an increase of 97.2% compared to 2022. The average daily number of occupied bedplaces was 17,786, 121.1% more than in 2022.

Evolution of the capacity and occupancy of the shelter network

Note: From the year 2022 onwards, places occupied by persons aged 18 and over are counted, while capacity refers to the total number of places available in the shelter.

37,114 bed-places in the shelters were offered per day in June, of which 83.3% were occupied. In December the offer totalled 41,887 bed-places, with an occupancy rate of 87.4%.

By type of accommodation, an average of 12,091 people (4,640 of whom were women) stayed in flats or apartments and 21,667 (3,676 women) stayed at collective shelters.

As for the facilities, 49.3% of the collective shelters had individual rooms and 22.4% had rooms for families.

Furthermore, at 99.1% of these collective shelters it was possible to recharge electronic devices, at 85.2% it was possible to receive correspondence, at 82.6% the person helped out in shelter tasks, at 82.4% people could stay at the shelter around the clock, at 82.0% people could receive telephone calls, at 77.0% it was possible to register, 61.1% had facilities adapted to people with reduced mobility, at 48.7% it was possible to receive visitors and at 10.9% it was possible to have a pet.

Average number of shelter bed-places provided and average occupancy by autonomous communities and cities. 2024

{
  "mode": "table",
  "category": [
    "Average number of bedplaces",
    "Average occupancy (%)",
    "Occupancy by women<sup>1</sup> (%)",
    "TOTAL",
    "Andalucía",
    "Aragón",
    "Asturias, Principado de",
    "Balears, Illes",
    "Canarias",
    "Cantabria",
    "Castilla y León",
    "Castilla-La Mancha",
    "Cataluña",
    "Comunitat Valenciana",
    "Extremadura",
    "Galicia",
    "Madrid, Comunidad de",
    "Murcia, Región de",
    "Navarra, Comunidad Foral de",
    "País Vasco",
    "Rioja, La",
    "Ceuta",
    "Melilla"
  ],
  "ids": [
    "table_1_Average_number_of_bedplaces",
    "table_1_Average_occupancy",
    "table_1_Occupancy_by_women<sup>1<sup>",
    "table_1_TOTAL",
    "table_1_Andalucia",
    "table_1_Aragon",
    "table_1_Asturias_Principado_de",
    "table_1_Balears_Illes",
    "table_1_Canarias",
    "table_1_Cantabria",
    "table_1_Castilla_y_Leon",
    "table_1_CastillaLa_Mancha",
    "table_1_Cataluna",
    "table_1_Comunitat_Valenciana",
    "table_1_Extremadura",
    "table_1_Galicia",
    "table_1_Madrid_Comunidad_de",
    "table_1_Murcia_Region_de",
    "table_1_Navarra_Comunidad_Foral_de",
    "table_1_Pais_Vasco",
    "table_1_Rioja_La",
    "table_1_Ceuta",
    "table_1_Melilla"
  ],
  "col": [
    [
      "0"
    ],
    [
      "1"
    ],
    [
      "2"
    ]
  ],
  "row": [
    [
      "3"
    ],
    [
      "4"
    ],
    [
      "5"
    ],
    [
      "6"
    ],
    [
      "7"
    ],
    [
      "8"
    ],
    [
      "9"
    ],
    [
      "10"
    ],
    [
      "11"
    ],
    [
      "12"
    ],
    [
      "13"
    ],
    [
      "14"
    ],
    [
      "15"
    ],
    [
      "16"
    ],
    [
      "17"
    ],
    [
      "18"
    ],
    [
      "19"
    ],
    [
      "20"
    ],
    [
      "21"
    ],
    [
      "22"
    ]
  ],
  "data": [
    "39,501",
    "85.5",
    "24.6",
    "3,029",
    "87.6",
    "26.0",
    "1,347",
    "86.9",
    "39.0",
    "1,073",
    "90.7",
    "33.4",
    "844",
    "93.2",
    "31.8",
    "4,855",
    "79.2",
    "7.1",
    "213",
    "82.1",
    "45.3",
    "2,193",
    "83.2",
    "28.6",
    "1,397",
    "91.4",
    "25.8",
    "5,305",
    "83.8",
    "32.3",
    "1,312",
    "93.2",
    "20.9",
    "1,291",
    "94.3",
    "8.3",
    "1,649",
    "85.5",
    "28.5",
    "4,919",
    "89.6",
    "18.7",
    "2,702",
    "87.1",
    "19.1",
    "403",
    "75.7",
    "39.7",
    "5,242",
    "80.7",
    "34.4",
    "275",
    "67.5",
    "47.2",
    "525",
    "93.4",
    "1.8",
    "932",
    "84.1",
    "32.3"
  ],
  "textLad": [
    ""
  ],
  "title": "",
  "leftSideCols": 1,
  "rowsHeader": 1
}

¹Percentage of places occupied by women out of the total number of bedplaces.

Housing First/Housing Led Programmes

In June, 1,092 dwellings were allocated to the Housing First / Housing Led Programmes (65.5% more than in June 2022). These homes were occupied by 2,168 people, of which 713 were women.

1,079 homes were allocated in December (60.8% more than in December 2022), and they were occupied by 2,146 people, of which 647 were women.

Data revisions and updates

The data published today are final. All the results of this operation are available at INEbase.

Methodological note

The 2024 survey of shelters and care services for homeless people was carried out by the INE in partnership with the Euskal Estatistika-Erakundea/Basque Statistics Institute (EUSTAT), which conducted the survey in the Basque Country under the collaboration agreement between the two bodies. It was carried out in the first half of 2025.

The main research objective is to study the different characteristics of the homeless shelters, both in general (such as the benefits offered, the population served and their orientation), as well as other characteristics related to economic and health aspects, operation (such as funding, human and financial resources and usual activity periods) and capacity and occupation.

The survey was carried out exhaustively with the shelters found in the directory, with an 79.9% response rate. The information was collected using a web questionnaire.

Type of operation:: Biennial.
Populational and geographical scope:: Homeless shelters that offer accommodation and catering services and/or street intervention services throughout the country.
Reference period for the results:: The calendar year. The information on capacity and occupancy refers to 14 June and 16 December. The human resources refer to December 16.
Reference period for the information:: Year prior to the interview.
Sample size:: Thorough investigation.
Collection method:: Online questionnaire completion by the informant (IRIA system) with telephone support.

For more information, you can access the methodology and the standardised methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.