The movement for decent housing in Valencia is beginning to strengthen. The spontaneous camping that originated on Saturday after the massive demonstration faces its third day in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, with the objective of organizing the neighborhood movement. Nearly 50,000 people attended the protests, according to the organizers, – a Government Delegation lowers the figure to 15,000 – in a march that filled the city center.
The protesters camp in shifts, standing guard to make it compatible with the work day or classes. About thirty people usually spend the night, but during the day there are more than a hundred, with other groups that come to lend their support. This Monday were the iaiofluteswith an improvised concert, and also members of the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages.
Many of the protesters are students, but they are aware that their demand goes much further. The youth emancipation rate is barely 16.5% and the majority of those under 30 need help from their parents to buy a home, according to the latest studies, but housing is already a transversal problem: in five years the rent has doubled and the purchase price is close to the highs of the real estate bubble.
Sergio, a 20-year-old young man, is one of the students who has camped. He joined on Sunday night after work. During his university life he has seen the price of rent double: “I have gone from paying 120 euros to 330 for a room” in just three years, he tells elDiario.es. In total, he and his colleagues pay a thousand euros a month to their landlord for an apartment on the last stretch of Blasco Ibáñez Avenue, bordering on Cabanyal. They moved there because their former landlord raised their rent from 1,000 to 1,600 euros suddenly. “I lived five minutes from the faculty and now I am 35,” he says.
The journalism student comments that it is difficult to negotiate with the owners, since many contracts are offered as temporary, lasting less than a year. At the end of the course, as was their case, they proposed an abusive climb that made them move to the edge of the neighborhood. From the platform “València is not for sale” they indicate that in the last five years they have observed an internal movement from Ciutat Vella to Patraix, from Benimaclet to Saïdia… these are changes between neighboring but lower-income districts, which in turn exert pressure on rent: there are no longer any apartments for less than 600 euros in the city and the wave is expanding to the metropolitan area.
Alba, from “València is not for sale”, considers the protest and the approach to the camps a success. “The objective is to weave a neighborhood movement,” explains this 25-year-old young woman, who highlights the interest that the movement has generated. . “People come and are interested in how to participate. They ask about neighborhood assemblies. We want people to know that in the event that the institutions do not provide answers, there are neighborhood groups where they can assist,” he says. In recent weeks, since the organization of the mobilization, new assemblies have been created and the housing union has been strengthened.
Some assemblies are grouped together in EntreBarris, a group to which Irene belongs. This 25-year-old girl lives in La Saïdia, one of the neighborhoods on the other side of the river that has been receiving young people from Benimaclet or Ciutat Vella. The solidarity of the residents of València stands out, who during the weekend brought food and basic belongings to the young people. “A lot of people come during the day. We are deciding permanence day by day. This is not a strategy of the platform,” he highlights. Some representatives comment that the rent strike is being studied, although they believe that they are not yet at that stage and are weighing the actions. They all emphasize that they have not received political support at the local or regional level, that no representative has approached them, and they doubt that there is institutional will in the Generalitat Valenciana to solve the housing problem.
The measures announced to date are insufficient. The scholarships received by students who move to the city are 3,000 euros, which do not cover educational expenses and rent; The youth bonus has requirements that make it difficult to request it if the contract is temporary and, in addition, it is considered an indirect subsidy to the rentier. Others, the platform considers, are not a remedy: the answer is not to build more. They reject massive construction and the destruction of territory. Instead, they propose stopping touristification, reverting tourist apartments and mobilizing empty homes, in addition to prohibiting speculation.
The president of the Generalitat, the popular Carlos Mazón, has acknowledged that the campers “are right,” but points to the government of the Botanical Pact that preceded his as the cause of the “housing collapse.” His Consell, defends the popular leader, has “lowered taxes on young people and families to be able to access housing”, in addition to launching “100% guarantees from the Generalitat, from which dozens of people are already benefiting.” young people in the first months.” The conditions of those who camp are far from being able to allow them to access a home on a purchase basis and the protest itself cries out against the laws of lack of protection of the territory, promoted by the PP Consell.
The Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, indicated that the camping trip is taking place peacefully and has highlighted that the presence of the National Police is only “preventive.” “As long as public order is not compromised, the State security forces and bodies will be there to have a preventive position and always in full collaboration and at the disposal of the Local Police and the City Council if they want to enforce the public highway ordinance,” he noted. The Government has no intention of vacating the square in the next few hours.
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