An estimated 400,000 evictions have taken place across Spain since 2008. With one of the world's toughest mortgage laws, foreclosures are a much bigger problem in Spain than in other countries that have been suffering the ongoing economic crisis. The grassroots activists of the Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH) have been campaigning for a major change to this law, to redress the balance of power between banks and struggling homeowners. In this recent video, activists call on the governing Partido Popular (PP) to introduce that change and accept proposals in their Initiativa Legislativa Popular (ILP), a motion backed by 1.5 million signatories that includes the cancellation of … [Read more...] about The fight for a fairer evictions law
desahucios
Squatting wave pushes for improved Spanish housing policy
“If they throw us out, I don't know what we're going to do. Now we have nothing,” says Trini, who lives with her partner and son in a squatted building in central Madrid. The €500 she earns taking care of seniors is the only income her family has. Trini wants to buy or rent a house, but at a price that her family can afford. Trini is part of a massive squatting wave that is sweeping across Spain as a response to the failure of public housing policy. Once, squatting was seen as an act of defiance, done mainly by young people. Now it is more commonly done out of necessity, by families who feel they have no other option. Since 2007, there have been more than 350,000 evictions as a result … [Read more...] about Squatting wave pushes for improved Spanish housing policy