The Gasteiz Txiki Neighbourhood Association of the Casco Viejo and the Platform Auzo Bizi have “once again” denounced a new violation of fundamental rights, with the support of CEAR Euskadi, the Social Rights Platform and Kalean Gorrian Inor Ez, this time in a press release.

At the press conference on 2 June, they first recalled the words of the same actors: “On May 10, ARGIA announced the case of a family (marriage and three minor children). In a state of alarm and in contact with the social worker, he was expelled from the room where the confinement was going and stayed in the street. Not receiving any alternative from the emergency services of the City of Vitoria-Gasteiz, they arrived at the homes of Olarizu, without water or light and with constant police pressure.” As they explained, on the same day that the call for the press conference was made public, the family received the call from the social services, saying that a temporary residential solution had been found for the family. On that day, the situation of extreme marginalization was in the process of improvement, according to Interior.

Deepening despair

However, the evolution of reality has been radically opposed, as the social agents of the neighborhood and the city have denounced today. They explain that the first call of the social services brought tranquility to the family, as they assured them that there was a floor for them: “They were invited to prepare for the transfer and to inform their children.” But “shortly after the press conference” the family received a new call from the social worker (four days after the first call). “Now they were denied the solution announced, because it was too expensive for the City Hall,” they explained. The situation is, therefore, maintained. But the agents of the Casco Viejo have stressed that the desperation of the family is now greater due to the behavior of the social services, which have ordered one thing first and then denied them what they promised.

Gasteiz Txiki and Auzo Bizi have stressed that what happened is not an isolated case: “In many families, the situation is more serious in this context of pandemic and crisis. The institutions’ response, instead of relieving them, has caused some situations to deteriorate.” They have recalled that there are many publicly owned housing units in the city and have called for their use to “cope with the residential emergency we live in”.