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A Situational Assessment of Street Living in Caldas, Colombia: Evidence to Inform Public Policy Development
This article aimed to characterize the situation of street-dwelling in the department of Caldas, in order to provide a basis for public policy formulation. The research was developed through a qualitative, participatory, and territorial approach, applying in-depth interviews, participatory workshops, body mapping, problem trees, wall newspapers, and participant observation in different subregions of the department. The analysis was structured into four variables: sociodemographic/population, historical, contextual, and relational.
Findings indicate that the street-dwelling population is predominantly urban, with life trajectories marked by social exclusion. From a historical perspective, participants reported family ruptures, loss of social ties, experiences of violence, forced displacement, and problematic substance use, all contributing to progressive detachment from the household. In the contextual dimension, structural factors such as multidimensional poverty, labor precariousness, unemployment, informality, and barriers to accessing fundamental rights were identified. The relational dimension highlighted fragile social bonds, stigmatization, and weak institutional coordination.
These results confirm that street-dwelling in Caldas is a dynamic, multicausal phenomenon that requires intersectoral, differential, and sustainable responses. The study constitutes a strategic input to strengthen state and community capacities for designing public policies oriented not only to immediate care, but also to prevention, social inclusion, and the guarantee of rights for this population in the department.
