From the Platform for Mortgage Affected People (PAH) in Barcelona,
as we face an eviction order that threatens families currently living in the
collectively recuperated housing block named Bloc La Bordeta, we want to make
public the fact that we have pressed both the Barcelona City Council and the
Catalan Government to intervene in the process. Both institutions have asked
the judge not to order the eviction. On the other hand, we also urge the
judiciary not to allow the families in the Bloc La Bordeta to be tossed on the
street, as this violates the right to decent and adequate housing as enshrined
in Article 47 of the Spanish constitution. We have also sent a memo requesting
the collaboration of the Ombudsman, in an attempt to exhaust all the possible
avenues for mediation to avoid the eviction.
This past February we recovered an empty housing block for PAH
Barcelona’s Obra Social campaign, the Bloc La Bordeta. Now there are
nine adults and four children living in La Bordeta, all with no housing
alternative.
This housing, built by the construction company Nyala 2006 SL (a
company owned by the Riera-Marsá family), has laid empty and unfinished for the
past eight years. The company left the building without a water supply or a
certificate of occupancy, and hasn’t paid the mortgage they took out for
several years.
Nyala 2006 SL’s debt is now being managed by the SAREB, Spain’s
public-private “bad bank” whose goal is to profit from selling off real estate
from the banks rescued after the country’s real estate bubble burst in 2008.
But, today, despite the housing block laying empty for eight years, the
construction company is still the owner. It is a housing block that in essence
has been financed with public funds to cover the debt of a private company. The
SAREB has dismissed becoming the owner of the property, surely to evade its
responsibility in the face of citizens who have for years been demanding social
rental housing that include the flats left in its hands.
In order to not negotiate with the families of the PAH, the
SAREB alleges that the construction company owns the building, also avoiding
getting its hands dirty in the judicial process. Nyala 2006, i.e. the
Riera-Marsá family, refuses to even talk with the PAH to find a solution,
instead betting on leaving families on the street and not caring about these
consequences in the least.
In the judicial process that began after the request for a
precautionary eviction, the judge has ruled in favour of the builder and has
ordered the eviction of the housing block, giving families seven days to leave
voluntarily after the injunction arrives, which as of today has not been
received. This judge ignores the sentence of the European Court of Human Rights
which states that there can be no eviction without adequate resettlement. We
will not allow this to happen, because these families would literally be left
on the street.
We are making a call out to defend the Bloc la Bordeta, for
people to position themselves for the right to housing.
Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca-PAH
You can sign on to support this manifesto by sending an email to
lapahdebarcelona@gmail.com (put “adhesión-support” in the
subject line)
Additionally, we’d like you to be present at our press
conference that will be held in front of the Bloc La Bordeta at noon on Tuesday
7 July (carrer d´Hostafrancs Nº 3).
