- A family living for rent in a house that cannot be adapted to the needs of its children with great disabilities has long been requested by the Basque Government: they need housing adapted to the needs of minors to live for rent. In the absence of an answer, the Basque Parliament has been called: “We need a rental in which our children can move and live with dignity. It is very urgent and we have no alternative.”
The request was made via the Osoigo platform. For six years, three children and their two parents have lived in a housing of 60 square meters, and two children aged 12 and 15, affected by a strange illness, move in a wheelchair. “Our house is small, has a single bathroom, cannot adapt and, despite having three bedrooms, we hardly move in the house. We must leave our children’s two wheelchairs on the plateau out of the house.” The biggest difficulty is that children cannot wash properly in the bathroom: “We were using the facilities of the municipal sports club to shower, but today this option is not possible because it cannot be kept standing”.
"We're desperate."
Given the unsustainability of the situation and the costs of addiction and therapies, the family has explained on the platform that they have already come to different institutions and to the Ararteko that they do not have access to an adapted home on their own and that they are in despair: “They do not consider our situation as a priority and that is why they do not give us an adapted housing”. According to the regulations, only victims of gender-based violence and evictions have a preference for social housing. “This criterion seems perfectly appropriate to us, but we believe that the situation of our family should be considered as a priority criterion for accessing rented housing.”
"They do not consider our situation a priority and therefore do not give us an adapted housing"
Through the platform, the family has received the response from EH Bildu parliamentarian Rebeka Ubera. Ubera is committed to studying the theme and explains that within the Basque Housing Service Etxebide, in all housing promotions, quotas are reserved for disabled families of a member. “If necessary, it will have to be examined whether this scale has been properly performed. For this, of course, they will count on our full cooperation.”
Association
The family is in the Cinct Señeak association, which serves children with a strange illness and their families, and thanks for their support and help, but in the area of housing they cannot meet their needs.
Our journalist Nerea Goiti has interviewed Luisma Landaluze, from the association Señeak, Naiz: "It is hardly possible to understand in Derio and in the 21st century not to find a solution for a situation like this".