“I am Leonor, I am 42 years old and I am a neighbor of Basarrate, in Santutxu. I have three children aged 7 and 6 years and the child under 6 months. My family is at risk of being on the streets on 1 April, in 15 days’ time. Since I became a family, when I went to ask for help from the different administrations, I have always been answered with the classic “come back tomorrow”. My three children, my husband and I have had to live between moisture and fungi, on a floor in deplorable conditions, while the owners and the real estate filled their pockets at our expense, without assuming any responsibility. I have been fighting for my family for many years, and at the moment I find something that exceeds all our possibilities: the threat of eviction. On this occasion we address the institutions in search of a housing alternative, and the only solution they offer is an accommodation. I don’t need a place to sleep, but a place to live!”

In these words, Leonor has pointed out the situation in which he is immersed. The Housing Group of the Casco Viejo de Bilbao (AZET) has appeared this Wednesday morning in the self-managed space Karmela Bizirik, in the bilbaíno district of Santutxu, to report that a family is at risk of being evicted. Among the speakers was Leonor, a woman who lives on the front page the curfew that has been made known through the appearance. Leonor lives with her three younger daughters, one of 7 years old, the second of 6 and the younger of 6 months, and her partner in a house in Basarrate, who already have a curfew on April 1.

At the press conference they explained that, at the time they started living in the current housing, irregularities occurred on the part of the owner and the real estate agency. And that the owner, instead of assuming any responsibility, has preferred to take tenants to court. Once before the judge, they have asked Leonor and his family to be released for treatment.

In addition, they stressed that they were not happy with the irregularities of the real estate and the real estate, fifteen days after the signing of the rental contract the family met another front: their new residence was in the process of being seized by the bank La Caixa.

“In short, the situation is as follows: on the one hand, the family composed of three minors runs the risk of staying in the street while the landlord washes his hands and refuses to take responsibility; on the other hand, a bank that every day enriches itself with our lives controls the situation from top to bottom as if it were a pink spur,” said AZET members.

Questioning the institutions

“And what do the institutions and the Municipal Housing of Bilbao do in this situation? What does the City of Bilbao do?” they have put the question in the air to denounce that the alternative they have offered to Leonor and his family is not a dignified solution. What they have dedicated to the family is an accommodation room.

“Yes, you have heard well, you want to convince us that the cell of a hospitality business is a home. But they won't fool us. From AZET we always repeat that housing is not only four walls”, they have stressed to make the message clear: “We don’t need a place to sleep, we need a place to live.”

On the way to turn the place of life into a guarantee, they have launched two main demands in relation to the case of Leonor's family: the immediate suspension of eviction and the offer of a real housing alternative.

In addition, they have used their appearance to appeal to people to participate in the activities that will be carried out around the case of Leonor and his family. As they have anticipated, an open assembly will take place on 22 March, while a mobilisation will take place on 26 March.