Pamplona City Council has caused divisions among locals after it emerged authorities have been paying people sleeping rough in the city to leave the Navarran capital by bus for other cities in Spain.

Those who aren’t working and face social exclusion in Pamplona (including not having a roof over their heads) are now offered a free one-way ticket out of town on state-paid coaches.

It’s a measure pushed by newly appointed Pamplona mayor Joseba Asirón, who had already promised to resolve the issue of homelessness during his campaign for re-election.

The number of people sleeping in the streets of Pamplona has reportedly increased exponentially in recent years, “multiplying by seven the cost for authorities since 2019” according to former Councillor for Social Services Raúl Armendáriz, in an interview in local daily El Diario de Navarra last November. 

Even though another shelter was provided in late 2023 to help resolve the problem, there are still not enough beds to house all of Pamplona’s homeless population.

Asirón’s office has defended the move, saying it’s a common strategy when facing a collapse of local homeless shelters, and that they offer those without financial resources a chance for new opportunities elsewhere or to return home.

It is reminiscent of what Marbella’s most notorious mayor, the late Jesús Gil, did when in the 90s he bused out all the homeless, petty thieves and prostitutes to the edges of the Costa del Sol city. 

The free-ticket-out-of-town solution has been criticised by charities such as Cáritas and the Red Cross and the opposition, who argue that Pamplona’s homelessness issues have worsened under Asirón. It’s convinced much of the Pamplonica population either.  

“They have to give them shelter and not a bus so they can leave,” one local woman told Antena 3 news. 

Homeless people in Pamplona can only stay a maximum of three nights at the shelter, or other hotel or guesthouse before having to leave their bed.

Homelessness has grown by 25 percent in Spain since the 2008 economic crisis, and worsened by the Covid pandemic. 

Spain’s national stats body INE reported in 2022 that there were 28,500 people without a home in Spain. 

Other examples of inhumane ways of dealing with homelessness in Spain include countless examples of hostile architecture, when bars, spikes and other objects are added to building entrances to make it impossible for homeless people to sleep there.

READ ALSO: Madrid’s hostile anti-homeless architecture that you see everyday but don’t even notice

As many as 80 percent of people sleeping in the streets of Barcelona suffer a mental disorder, from before they were homeless or as a result, a figure that’s common elsewhere in Spain.