The conversation with Estefanía González is sincere. She is the mayor of Villayón, one of the councils of the Interior of Asturias where depopulation squeezes a lot. He acknowledges that, as a governor, she encouraged her neighbors to rent their homes, when she herself was reluctant to do it with her. “So many memories, that feeling of getting rid of the roots, the fear to whom it will come inside, if you will adapt well to the people, if you will take care of it …”.
Thus begins our talk with her to find the reasons that explain the reasons why it is so difficult to rent in the Asturian rural environment.
This governor explains that there are several reasons that back down the owners of houses in the Asturian rural area when putting them for rent. A first -order problem in Asturias, since there is a demand to live in the villages, but there is a lack of offer.
Estefanía González lived with her husband for years in Brañúas, in what was the house of her in -laws and that, years later, they inherited her. “Although it was not my birthplace that house was full of memories, there we lived very good years. On the one hand, I was sorry for thinking about who could get to live there… ”, says González.
A time later, she and her husband went to live in her own home and they took care of her in -laws until the day they missed, her home from Brañúas stayed with all the family photos placed in the shelves, but without anyone who breathed through The halls.
And then, Estefanía told her husband that it was time to rent, because beyond the feeling of belonging, there was the feeling that a house without people stop being home to be a simple pile of stones with a roof on top.
A house is alive when someone lives it. I think my testimony can help other people change their minds
“A house is alive when someone dwells. There was a coincidence that they installed here a wind farm and there were some security guards who did not find accommodation to stay. They were very nice people, they gave us confidence and we were encouraged to rent. They were more than two years and there was no problem. Afterwards, our family told us that there was a couple that fled from the heat of Valencia and we rent them. Now a boy from Madrid lives who wanted to come to the town, ”he says.
Estefanía González knows that it costs a lot to make the decision to rent, but it encourages people to do it, because the Rural Asturias needs people if they want to stay alive. “I think that maybe my testimony can help other people change their minds,” he explains.
In Villayón, just announced that the Arbón shelter, one of the villages of this municipality, will already be rehabilitated to make it two houses that are going to rent. “We are going to make two very beautiful homes. The reality of peoples has nothing to do with cities, the factors for which people are reluctant to rent here are multiple, but the important thing is to generate confidence so that people see that nothing happens, the important thing is to decide well To whom it is rented, ”he clarifies.
The reasons why house owners in the rural area do not rent are several. The same opinion of Estefanía is defended by Verónica Bermúdez, technique of the BACK TO THE PEOPLEa platform to promote the settlement and fixation of the population in the rural environment. She acts as a mediator when someone wants to live in a house in the northwestern region of Asturias.
“It is not a job in bucket, it is very necessary. When people arrive from the outside they need to feel wrapped, you have to generate confidence so that they want to stay. We advise you at all, where they have suppliers to buy the materials if they need to do a work at home, until the fisherman’s and baker’s passage, what days there is a market and we also put them in touch with other people with whom they share a Similar vital project, ”says Bermúdez.
Beyond the feeling of doubt that floods you by being renting the home that was the house in which one grew up, there are other factors that paralyze the rent in the rural area. One of them are the inheritances, most houses pass to several owners once the parents die and “many people are involved in a tedious work, with paperwork and without advice. Some do not want to buy and others do not want to sell, so that on many occasions the houses end up demolished, ”says Verónica Bermúdez.
We have to look for people who really want to be here and who really know what a town is. The fire test is to spend a winter here, when you see that Monday gets clouded, and on Tuesday and Wednesday …
Another factor is the lack of confidence about the people who ask. “We have to look for people who really want to be here and who really know what a town is. I always tell you that to be convinced you have to forget the bucolic image offered by the villages. The fire test is to spend a winter here, when you see that on Monday it rises cloudy the day, and on Tuesday and Wednesday … ”, explains the mayor of Villayón.
Precisely in making that selection Verónica Bermúdez works, who interviews all interested people and investigates their aspirations before putting the lessor and the lessee in contact. “We are not going to say that all the people stay because it is not true, but most. What happens is that when someone leaves a lot of stir.
We do an essential task, because we are not going to put you at home to the first one that arrives, we will ensure that those who arrive have the ability to pay, desire to live in rural areas and settle, ”concrete Bermúdez, who believes essentially, Create an advice service for owners. “An office that assesses how much they have to invest to put the house in the necessary conditions if they want to rent it and help them with the efforts of the inheritance,” he says.
Bermúdez’s proposal has already been carried out in other areas of the country, as is the case of Somontano Renta, in Huesca, where a public and private housing rental bag has been created in rural municipalities to facilitate the arrival of new settlers to the territory. What they do is identify empty or disused homes that could be inhabited and establish contact between owners and possible tenants, the owners are helped with the efforts of the inheritances and a neighborhood awareness work is done to lose the fear of renting.
“Years ago people thought that our work made no sense, that we were alternative, but now there are companies that call us because they look for workers and know that these people come into contact with us. The reality is that we are missing houses to house many people who want to live and work here, ”says Bermúdez.
In Asturias, according to the last census prepared in this regard by the National Statistics Institute (INE) in 2021, there are 100,000 empty homes, most of them are in the rural area. But there is more, because the criterion that marks the INE is the consumption of kilowatts in the house, but that analysis only applies in populations of more than a thousand inhabitants, and in the west most peoples are below a thousand. This is the case of Brañúas.
Marcos Niños, General Director of Demographic Challenge in Asturias and Natural de Santalla de Oscos, one of the least populated councils of Asturias, endorses the arguments of Verónica and Estefanía. “People marched from the rural world and the houses were empty, many heirs consider that it is not worth investing in houses that, in their opinion, do not have sufficient economic value. There is also the fear of older people to rent, if you are going to treat you well …
Another of the keys is that many homes require a significant reform or reparation and most of the rural areas are very large, which requires an investment that in many occasions exceed the possibilities of the owners. “It seems a lie that in a community like ours with so many empty homes are missing houses for rent, but it is …”, says a child.
Estefanía González knows that in a short time his house of Brañúas will need a reform of the roof that will be around forty thousand euros. “The emotional value that we give to each house is personal, I know it is difficult to make the decision to rent, but we have to do it if we want the rural Asturias not to die,”
Last year thirteen families from outside settled in the rural area of the Northwest of Asturias, one left. Estefanía González decided to rent his house one day, he was afraid and did it with fear. The feeling of seeing people from outside at home was a painful uncertainty, but more was the thunderous silence of the stone walls of the thousands of houses that are empty in the villages of Asturias … the eternal winter that is installed between the Empty walls scare more than any other emotion. A cold that can only be overcome with human heat.
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