Hace dos semanas tuvo lugar en Nueva York (Estados Unidos) una Conferencia Internacional sobre Vivienda, en la que participaron un total de 12 colectivos procedentes de 7 países de ambos lados del Atlántico: Estados Unidos, Hungría, Francia, Grecia, Portugal, Alemania y España. Ibercaja prefiere mantener sus viviendas vacías en lugar de firmar un acuerdo en base al alquiler social con las familias de la Corrala Utopía. El Ayuntamiento de Sevilla castiga y criminaliza a las familias, despojándolas de derechos esenciales como el acceso al agua y a la electricidad. Y la Junta de Andalucía, a pesar de las declaraciones de los miembros de la Consejería de Fomento y Vivienda, sigue sin hacer nada por las familias. No sólo no se atreven a iniciar los trámites de expropiación del edificio, sino que las distintas normativas que ha aprobado (recurridas por el Gobierno de España) no contienen elementos que contribuyan a legalizar la situación de las familias de la Corrala Utopía.
Aquí tenéis el comunicado elaborado en Nueva York.
IBERCAJA Bank: Hands off the Corrala Utopía!
Background
The economic crisis is affecting a growing number of people in Spain.
Since 2007, more than 500,000 evictions have occurred because homeowners
and tenants are unable to pay their mortgage or rent. Meanwhile, there
are about four million vacant houses and apartments in Spain, and the
government is spending billions of Euros to rescue the exact same banks
responsible for the evictions. Within the Spanish population, the
realization is spreading
that evictions are not a matter of personal
fault, but the result of a system that treats housing as a commodity
and allows banks to speculate on it. More and more people are
participating in actions resisting the evictions of their friends and
neighbors.
In 2012, a group of 36 families in Seville that had
become homeless as a result of evictions appropriated an empty property
and named it “Corrala de las Vecinas la Utopía” (Apartment Building of
the Neighbors Utopia). To make life in the building as uncomfortable as
possible, the city of Seville cut off the water and electricity. The
current owner of the apartment building, the bank Ibercaja, went to
court and in May 2013 was granted permission to evict the families.
However, Ibercaja and city officials underestimated the sense of
solidarity with the occupants of Corrala Utopía among the people of
Seville and Spain as a whole. In a time when the idea of squatting
vacant houses for homeless families and individuals was spreading,
numerous solidarity actions were organized all across Spain and in other
European countries demanding that Ibercaja suspend all evictions and
reach a compromise with the affected families. Due to the mounting
pressure, Ibercaja ultimately agreed to halt the evictions until the
inhabitants of Corrala Utopía could find affordable homes elsewhere.
Despite these promises, Ibercaja recently broke its word and announced
that it would resume the evictions without working out any alternatives
with the families of Corrala Utopía.
Resolution
We, the participants of the Right to the City Transatlantic Roundtable that
took place in New York City from November 22-23, 2013, demand from Ibercaja and the city of Seville to:
•Not evict the inhabitants of the Corrala Utopía.
•Reach a compromise with the families, for instance allowing them to stay in the building and pay rents they can afford.
•Provide water and electricity immediately.
A Város Mindenkié (The City is for All) – Hungary
Causa Justa :: Just Cause – U.S.A.
Droit au Logement (Right to Housing) – France
East LA Community Corporation – U.S.A.
Penny Koutrolikou & Dimitra Siatitsa (Greece)
HABITA – Colectivo pelo Direito à Habitação e à Cidade (Collective on Housing Rights and the City) – Portugal
Occupy Our Homes Atlanta – U.S.A.
Picture the Homeless – U.S.A.
Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (Movement of Mortgage Victims) –Spain
Recht auf Stadt (Right to the City) –Germany
Right to the City Alliance – U.S.A.
Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung – New York Office – U.S.A.