In a protest called in front of the Congress of Deputies, the criticisms expressed by the spokesperson for the Platform for Those Affected by the Occupation, Ricardo Bravo, have been clear: “The only responsibility for having made a law that obviates the occupation lies with the Government”. With a record of 2,500 cases in his association that directly and indirectly affect small owners, Bravo has warned that after the approval of the legislative text, “squatting will continue and even increase.”
Although he has admitted that it is a problem that goes back a long way, which is why it affects other governments and parties, the last four years have been, in Bravo’s words, a “living death”. In this sense, he has confessed that the Executive has facilitated and supported the squatting, in addition to superimposing the rights of the squatters over those of the owners: “We feel humiliated.”
The spokesman has argued that since there is a public housing problem in Spain, the Government is looking for formulas to reverse this scourge. That is where Bravo has stressed that the PSOE and Podemos have put the weight of the squat on the backs of the small holders. That is to say, their properties become the houses that “have not been made during the legislature.” According to the spokesperson, this government helplessness is also due to the fact that the term eviction “is used for all cases”, even for squatters. He has clarified that a political discourse has been created that considers the occupiers as people affected by the big banks, when, he says, “it is not like that.”
Edmundo Bal has met with them, who has assured that “the PSOE carries out this law to remain as the liberals who defend the poor.” According to the Citizens deputy, in line with what Bravo said, the Government is wrong to focus only on vulnerable people and ignore those affected by the squatting. In addition, Bal has proposed to the PP and Vox that they present an appeal of unconstitutionality when the law is approved. For her part, the people’s deputy Ana Zurita has collected the baton ceded by the orange formation and has confirmed that they will present this appeal as soon as the legal text is approved.
Another problem that Bravo has highlighted due to its secrecy is the squatting, which is exercised by the rented people who stop paying the tenant their monthly fee. He has emphasized that this event comes from Royal Decree 11/2020, of March 31, which allows families who cannot pay their rent to claim vulnerability due to the economic crisis derived from the pandemic. And although he has recognized that there are cases of squatting due to vulnerability problems, he has affirmed that there are many others where picaresque plays an important role. In these, the occupants stop paying the rent and create a false contract to request the vulnerability, which due to the incompetence of the administrations is not regulated. In this regard, he points out that despite the fact that there are methods to evict the non-vulnerable, nothing is done about it.
The demands of the platform, directed at the political class, are proliferating due to the imminent approval of the Housing Law. In them, three main demands stand out: carry out a legal reform; reverse the situation of those affected, who, although they recover their property, continue to go to psychological treatment or have gone bankrupt by covering the costs of electricity, gas or legal proceedings, and create a social conscience.
In relation to this, they have admitted feeling embarrassed that politicians like Irene Montero consider them a product of “the extreme right”, despite only demanding a solution to their problem. This sadness has also been reflected when they have mentioned that after having met with the socialist parliamentary spokesperson Patxi López or sending numerous emails to the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, since November 2021, from the latter without receiving a response to their request, “no They’ve done nothing about it.”
According to the criteria of The Trust Project