Several hundred people have demonstrated this Saturday in Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Albacete, supporting the call that has taken place in several cities in Spain to demand the right to housing and denounce the rise in rental prices.
In Albacete, the march started at 5:00 p.m. in José Ramón Martínez square and for an hour walked through some of the streets of the Franciscanos neighborhood, the most inhabited in the city and affected by the price increases, until reaching San Juan square.
The spokesperson for the Albacete por la Vivienda platform, Carlos Antonio González, explained that the demonstration and the national call «aims to demand the popular outcry for a decrease in housing and rental prices.»
«Before, a rent of 600 euros in Albacete seemed expensive, now you find them at 800 euros, and in the coming years, the situation will worsen and resemble that of the working class in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, or Valencia,» he said.
The platform, founded in November, aims to «bring cohesion» at the national level to request measures to lower housing price increases, detailed González, who argued that «neighbors must organize and defend the right to decent housing because without social organization, politicians and landlords will take it down the path they want.»
A banner with the title ‘Housing is a right, not a privilege’ led the march, with slogans like ‘your landlord steals your salary,’ ‘the Franciscanos are not for sale,’ or ‘idealista terrorist band.’
Pilar Cano, a 64-year-old retiree and city resident, was one of the attendees, stating that although «housing is a dignified and necessary right for everyone,» right now «young people have a very hard time.» Although she owns a property, she explained that she has «several nephews over 30 years old with jobs who cannot afford a flat» in the current situation.
Another protester, José Pedro Sánchez, a 30-year-old psychology student, called the current housing situation in Spain «shameful,» with people from various social backgrounds having trouble finding a home. From his perspective, affording a home in the near future is «unfeasible,» and he views the measures implemented so far by the Spanish government and municipalities as «superficial.»
The demonstration concluded with a reading of a manifesto calling for measures to address a problem that it considers «a structural strategy to exploit the popular sectors and ensure the wealth of a few.»
LACK OF ACCESS TO HOUSING POLICIES
«More and more people are forced to allocate most of our income to pay for housing. Real estate speculation, rentierism, the State’s coexistence with major property owners, and the lack of policies guaranteeing access to decent housing have created an unsustainable situation for the majority of the population,» denounced the text from the Albacete por la Vivienda platform.
In response, the organization has proposed «organizing and creating tools for collective bargaining» to «directly pressure those who profit.» «We demand an immediate reduction in rental prices, the recovery of empty housing hijacked by speculators, the dismantling of eviction companies, and an end to evictions and repression against the housing movement,» concluded the manifesto.
In Guadalajara, the Sindicato de Inquilinas e Inquilinos de Guadalajara called for a concentration at 12:00 p.m. to demand a decrease in rents and an end to abusive practices in Santo Domingo square, while in Cuenca, also at noon, a demonstration for the right to decent housing was held at the train station.