Alicante Expands Home Assistance with Increased Budget and Streamlined Regulations

More people, more hours, and fewer obstacles. The Local Government Board took a crucial step on Tuesday to strengthen the Home Assistance Service (SAD) in Alicante. The City Council not only increases its budget to 4.1 million euros—28% more than last year—but also approves the update of the regulations governing this essential service, allowing many elderly, dependent, or vulnerable individuals to continue living in their homes with support.

In 2024, 145,294 hours of assistance were provided to 662 users. Now, with the new regulations and increased funding, the aim is to reach more people and facilitate access to the service. Among the new features, applications can be processed online, and economic requirements are relaxed, allowing more families to benefit.

The Councillor for Social Welfare, Begoña León, highlights that the SAD "is a service with significant social impact" whose demand continues to grow. "It allows many people to receive care and companionship in their daily lives and to remain in their homes, in their environment, without having to enter a care home," she explains.

The SAD offers care and support both within the home and in the immediate surroundings of the beneficiary. It includes assistance with domestic tasks, personal hygiene, monitoring, companionship, and also psychosocial and educational activities. The goal: to maintain autonomy for as long as possible, avoid unwanted loneliness, and delay entry into residential care facilities.

With the revision of the regulations, the City Council adapts the service to current legislation, including the Dependency Law, and updates economic and quality criteria. "It is about ensuring the right to dignified and quality care, at home, where many people want and deserve to be," they state from the Social Welfare area.

The new regulations will need to be approved in the Plenary in the coming weeks.