The Housing Union of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Álava) reported in November last year on the situation of a family organized with the union. Blackstone tries to expel family members from a house acquired by the Blackstone fund after foreclosure.

"The family in its day did not want to identify itself for fear of possible repressive consequences", explained yesterday the members of the Housing Union through a hearing: "Now, given the proximity of eviction, it has agreed to identify itself". They report that, along with the union, family members went to social services to explain their situation and "request a solution". "As always, the administration has not offered opportunities," they report.

Hidden society farsa

"Once again, the ineffectiveness of the measures of the hidden society has become apparent," said union members. They warn that "the moratorium on evictions, although it delays the execution of some" does not "solve the problem". Because "it only delays evictions", "leaves many casuistic" "out of moratorium" and "many others, as in this case, though it may, it does not apply".

"Many prolarian families do not go to bourgeois institutions because they fear the consequences," the union said. In particular, families fear "rejection" or, worse still, "greater consequences", such as "loss of child custody or repression for usurping crimes". They often "don't even start paperwork." "Between endless roles and strict conditions, institutional solutions are scarce," he concludes.

Aggravation of disability and accomplices

Trade unions report that the housing problem is on the rise. They point out that the "illegal evictions carried out by the owners" have increased, the number of evictions has increased and the "inability of the proletarians to access housing" has increased. "That's why thousands of people have no choice but to occupy empty houses," they say.

In this situation, instead of "solving the problem of access to housing," the union has criticized that bourgeois institutions and vulture funds "join forces" in the "anti-occupation crusade". Moreover, it clarifies that this crusade is "fundamentally anti-proletariat".

"In Vitoria, both the city council and the vulture funds accumulate properties," he denounced that "they do not hesitate to use any resources to throw families out of their homes and thus do business with those properties." An example of this is the 28 housing units at risk of evacuation in Vitoria-Gasteiz, a municipal property.

Three requirements

"In this context of uncertainty, the only viable alternative is socialist self-defense: defense against attacks by landlords and renters, which will stop the deterioration of our living conditions and, at the same time, demand a new socialist housing system in which the entrance to wealth is universal," he claimed.

As for the family at risk of being dismissed, the union makes three demands of the City of Vitoria and Blackston: "immediate and unconditional suspension of eviction", "opening negotiations between the property, the city council and the union" to regularize the family housing and "guarantee a real and quality residential alternative".