Government claims there are only 9,421 homeless people in Argentina — NGOs do not agree

The national government said that, in late 2025, there were 9,421 homeless people nationwide, a figure that human rights organizations contested. In November and December, the Human Capital Ministry conducted the First National Survey of Homeless People, where 19 out of 24 districts participated.  A source in the ministry told the Herald that the five provinces that chose not to take part did not explain why. The survey found that 17% of the people living on the streets were women and 83% were men, 92% were over 18 years old, and 6% were underage (2% did not respond). Of the total number of people identified, 7,894 agreed to be interviewed, and it was found that 52% had completed primary school but had not finished secondary school; 53% were engaged in some form of work; 56% are social welfare recipients; 30% had pension income; and 8% received other forms of income.  Furthermore, 32% have been living on the streets for more than two years, and 90% possess an Argentine ID card. “The data demonstrates the complexity of this issue, revealing profiles that include individuals with national ID cards, informal employment, and partial income, but also broken family ties, prolonged histories of exclusion, and health problems or substance abuse,” a statement by the ministry said. Discrepancies Proyecto 7, an NGO working with unhoused people in Buenos Aires City, said the figures obtained by the survey are not accurate. “We are not 9,421,” a communiqué by the NGO said. “Once again, the national government is lying to and misleading the public and the media with false figures that distort the reality faced by Argentina’s most vulnerable population,” it added, saying that, by excluding 5 provinces, the survey is at least “incomplete.” In June 2025, social movements, including Proyecto 7, carried out a census that revealed that there were 11,892 homeless people in the City of Buenos Aires alone. “That is why we find the figure of 9,421 homeless people nationwide to be ridiculous, laughable, and misleading,” the communiqué added. Horacio Ávila, the head of Proyecto 7, told the Herald that they are seeing an increase in the number of homeless people across the city due to “the socioeconomic crisis, the closure of businesses, casual jobs, shops, and small and medium-sized enterprises.” “One out of every three shop shutters is closed,” he added. Ávila, who himself lived on the street for seven years before founding Proyecto 7, said that the increase in bus and train fares, as well as in rent prices, leads to people from vulnerable sectors “having to decide between eating, commuting to work, sending their children to school, or paying rent.” Ávila added that the city government has conducted 600 evictions for informal tenants since the beginning of the year. “Since the government realized that court-ordered evictions take a long time, it began citing ‘danger of collapse’ of the buildings,” Ávila said. “They come by and see a damp spot, a couple of hanging wires — things like that, that don’t warrant an evacuation — and they issue a report on the spot saying there’s a risk of collapse,” he explained. “These are buildings with 30 to 40 families who are sent straight out onto the street.” “Once the report is issued, two trucks start loading people’s belongings. Those families end up on the street. They give them 150,000 pesos, and some have four or five kids and have been living there for 30 years,” Ávila added.