Análisis de las políticas públicas dirigidas a los habitantes de calle en Villavicencio: Exclusión social y garantías de dignidad bajo el orden constitucional colombiano

Abstract

Homelessness in Villavicencio constitutes a human rights issue associated not only with individual circumstances, but also with structural factors of inequality, exclusion, and stigmatization. Although Law 1641 of 2013 and the Colombian constitutional framework establish guidelines for the comprehensive care, rehabilitation, and social inclusion of this population, a significant gap persists between legal provisions and their local implementation. Institutional responses remain predominantly assistance-based, focusing on food aid, temporary shelters, and occasional healthcare campaigns, without sustainably addressing underlying causes such as problematic substance use, unemployment, domestic violence, forced displacement, and the breakdown of family and community support networks. This situation contributes to the reproduction of cycles of dependency, exclusion, and marginalization, while undermining the effective protection of fundamental rights, including health, adequate housing, work, substantive equality, and human dignity. This research adopts a qualitative documentary approach based on the analysis of legal regulations, public policies, constitutional jurisprudence, international human rights instruments, and specialized academic literature. Its purpose is to assess the effectiveness of state actions aimed at homeless people in Villavicencio, identify gaps, limitations, and contradictions, and propose elements to overcome the prevailing assistance-based approach. The study concludes that local public policies should adopt a comprehensive, differential, gender-sensitive, and socially inclusive perspective that recognizes homeless people as active rights-holders and promotes autonomy, participation, shared responsibility, and social justice.