A total of 259 accommodation requests for families of displaced patients went unfulfilled in 2025 due to a lack of resources in Barcelona. Faced with this demand, the Fundació Josep Carreras and the Fundació Jubert Figueras housed 1,072 families who needed to be close to major hospitals during prolonged admissions, tests, or treatments.
The gap appears in the most precarious cases. While some of these families manage to find a room or a shelter, others end up sleeping in their cars or paying for a campsite several kilometers away from the hospital, despite accompanying patients admitted to reference centers such as the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol or the Institut Català d'Oncologia.
Carolina Oliva alerted to families sleeping in their cars
Carolina Oliva, a healthcare social worker at the Institut Català d'Oncologia, describes a situation she witnesses in the daily care of displaced patients and their companions. The lack of spaces does not only affect long stays; it also impacts families who need an immediate solution near the healthcare center.
"We have families, not just one or two, that we have detected sleeping in their cars. Also people who have to rent a campsite several kilometers away" - Carolina Oliva, healthcare social worker, Institut Català d'Oncologia
The two foundations currently have 55 accommodations and 156 rooms in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. These resources are allocated to families displaced from Catalonia, from other parts of Spain, and also from abroad.
Furthermore, the need does not correspond to a single type of stay. There are cases of one or two days for diagnostic tests and others that extend up to a year when the patient undergoes a transplant.
Anna spent two weeks in her car until she got an apartment in Barcelona
Anna, a resident of Girona, experienced this lack of alternatives while her daughter Judit was hospitalized for several months due to a double transplant at the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol. During that time, she first stayed on a sofa at the hospital and then in her car, until Social Services referred her to the Fundació Jubert Figueras.
"I was on a sofa at the hospital, the nurses let me shower at night, then I slept in the car for about two weeks" - Anna, mother of an admitted patient
The referral allowed the entity to get her an apartment in Barcelona to continue near her daughter in stable conditions. The case summarizes the difference between arriving at a reception center on time or having to improvise accommodation during hospitalization.
Marta Soler requested housing next to each major tertiary hospital
Marta Soler, vice president of the Fundació Jubert Figueras, calls for administrations to mobilize closed housing to respond to a demand that entities cannot cover with their current network. Her proposal involves incorporating that stock into social care linked to healthcare.
"Let the large housing stock that is closed be made available to citizens and social entities" - Marta Soler, vice president, Fundació Jubert Figueras
Soler also proposes a model of stable accommodation next to major reference centers. In her opinion, the public system should guarantee that caregivers can remain close to the hospital without resorting to precarious solutions or long commutes.
Marta Soler maintains that the welfare state must provide housing next to each major tertiary hospital to accommodate caregivers in dignified conditions, and cites the French model as a reference.