The City Council allocates 360,000 euros in aid to social groups and vulnerable families for 2024

The Consistory maintains in the 2025 Budget unlimited items for social emergency to ensure that all citizens have their needs met

The City Council of Estepona has allocated during this year 2024 a total of 360,000 euros in direct financial assistance to both groups and social organizations and vulnerable families in the municipality.

The Consistory has increased its efforts this year so that both groups working with vulnerable people and families with limited resources have their basic needs covered. In this sense, the delegation of Social Services and Social Integration has granted 140,000 euros in financial aid requested by citizens, including emergency aid, family, the project of Prevention of Residential Exclusion and aid from the Social Fund SAD (Home Help Service). Most of them are intended to help with the payment of bills, the payment of rent or the purchase of food products.

To qualify for these amounts, a series of economic, labor and social requirements must be met, which are evaluated by Social Welfare technicians.

Along with these direct aid, from the City Council have also been processed other requests made by families, including 72 applications within the Reinforcement Program for Child Feeding in public schools of Early Childhood and Primary Education with dining room of Andalusia. Also 573 referrals of users have been made to the social dining room of EMAUS from the Social Services.

The delegation has also processed this year 34 applications received for bonuses for the Water Rate in its two modalities: bonus in the water rate and special bonus (to meet certain requirements). The municipal delegation has also received 146 applications for the social electric bonus, which have been processed by the municipal delegation. The 20 beneficiaries who have applied for the technical aids of the Home Help Service have been able to meet their needs with various equipment such as electric orthopedic crane, articulated bed lift with railing, anti-bladder mattress, wheelchairs, shower and toilet, walkers, crutches and canes, and artificial intelligence devices.

Aid to groups

Along with all this, the City Council of Estepona has delivered this year 220,000 euros in financial aid to associations that this year have developed various projects to serve the most vulnerable groups in the city. The social entities that have received these amounts corresponding to 2024 have been: Association of Disabled of Estepona (ASDIES), Red Cross, Parkinson Sol, Volunteer Platform, Association of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Frente Bolillón, Multiple Sclerosis Association, Association of Relatives of Alzheimer’s patients, Diocesan Caritas, Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Estepona (APRONA), Peñas Blancas Women’s Association, Cudeca, Association of Victims of Autism, Motoclub ‘Onde Vamos’, Alejandro Navarro Association, as well as the various brotherhoods and fraternities of the municipality, and the Association of Brotherhoods and Guilds itself.

The mayor, José María García Urbano, stressed that for the Consistory “remains a priority to support all entities that serve the residents who need it most, to collaborate so that they can continue to develop their programs of care to these citizens”. In addition, he recalled that the 2025 Municipal Budget continues to have a strong social character and sets as one of its main objectives the attention of the most vulnerable people.

To this end, the economic amounts linked to aid and social programs will continue to be ‘expandable items’, i.e., they may grow if social circumstances so require.