TERCEIRA | Artur Lima highlights policies implemented to give credibility to allocation of social support in the Azores

The Vice-President of the Regional Government, Artur Lima, stated today in Praia da Vitória that this Government is committed to “giving credibility to the allocation of social support,” recalling the investment made in training sessions for social welfare beneficiaries of social action and the increase in inspection actions. 

According to Artur Lima, “so far, more than 500 Azoreans benefiting from welfare support have received training for the acquisition of skills for the labour market and financial literacy,” funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

The government official also emphasised the paradigm shift in “monitoring and combating fraud” brought about by the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM administration.

“Between 2021 and 2023, 936 inspections were carried out [on Social Integration Income beneficiaries], while only 238 were carried out between 2019 and 2020,” he emphasised.

He continued: “The number of Social Security inspectors has increased from 23 inspectors to 29 during this legislative period.”

As for Social Integration Income beneficiaries, Artur Lima recalled that “there were 14,494 beneficiaries in the Azores as of October 2020,” whereas “there were 8,294 as of October 2023, representing a decrease of 6,200 beneficiaries.”

Artur Lima spoke this morning in Praia da Vitória on the occasion of the opening of the new facilities of the Temporary Accommodation Centre of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Praia da Vitória.

“Today is the day we mark the opening of the new facilities for this institution’s temporary accommodation centre for homeless and socially excluded people, following an investment of 500 thousand Euros by the Regional Government,” he said.

With this investment, Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Praia da Vitória “will expand its accommodation capacity, thus ensuring an adequate response to more social cases.”

“Whereas this centre could only accommodate twelve users, it will now be able to provide accommodation for 18 users with these new facilities,” he stressed.

According to the Vice-President of the Government, the acquisition of the new building will provide “financial stability” to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Praia da Vitória, which will no longer be “dependent on the rental market.”

The ceremony was attended by the Regional Director for Solidarity, Andreia Vasconcelos, and the Head of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Praia da Vitória, Francisco Ferreira.

GRA/RÁDIOILHÉU