“I don’t want food or clothes, I’m just looking for a decent apartment that I can pay with a salary of 520 euros”

The countdown has started again to Fatima and its two children, 12 and 7 years old. This divorced Moroccan woman and victim of gender violence will face the March 3rd to a eviction order in Huesca, the third in just over a year. The previous two managed to stop them but admits that he is afraid of staying on the street. Therefore, launch a desperate cry in order to get a “decent home” at an affordable price. “I don’t need food, no clothes, just a flat”, he emphasizes.

She is one of the people who could benefit from Cáritas Huesca’s ‘You can be the key’ campaign, which seeks to sensitize empty homeowners to be made available to people (accompanied by the entity) under the regime of rent at low prices. So far they have had very few offers and meanwhile the waiting list grows.

Fatima came to Spain in 2008 due to family reunification since her husband lived in Huesca since 1996. “From the first day I arrived, I live in the same apartment,” she recalls. Ten years later, he started the divorce proceedings. “The mistreatment was the last of many motives”, he assures.

By taking care of the two minors, the court granted her the use of the house, for which her husband had been paying a fee for three years. social rent of 83 euros agreed with the bank, not being able to pay the mortgage. Fatima was willing to take on this lease and contacted the entity to transfer ownership of the contract. “But they have ignored me, their response has always been to ask for eviction”, the Mint.

The first threat from staying on the street came in January 2020 and managed to stop it. But a new court order of eviction for September. “I remember that I was preparing the backpacks for my daughter, who was starting in high school, and my son, who was going back to school. And a prosecutor arrived with a van to take everything out. That day, if the Affected Platform had not been there for the Mortgage and Caritas, I would have stayed on the street because all the other institutions have closed their doors to me, “he criticizes. And it is that Fatima He submitted a request for a social rent to the DGA three years ago and although they gave him the go-ahead, “they don’t have flats”he points out.

“That day, if the Platform for People Affected by Mortgage and Caritas had not been there, I would have stayed on the street because all the other institutions have closed their doors to me”

It has the title of Spanish philology -it is trying to validate it in Spain- but now works part-time caring for an elderly couple and earns 520 euros. It is her only income since her ex-husband has not paid her pension of 200 euros for almost a year. He assures that with that money it is “impossible” to access a flat in Huesca. “I have tried to search but they are very expensive. All are worth 500 or 600 euros, there are none of 200 or 300. And with what I charge, I cannot put my feet in the fire because with two children there are many expenses. At the beginning of each month, with paying the bills and buying food, I almost run out of anything, “he says. Fortunately, his family in Morocco has helped him by sending him clothes and furniture” but they can’t send me 1,000 euros every month. ” “I don’t have a hundred problems, only one, but no one gives me a solution beyond offering me a shelter when I stay on the street”.

Despite his agonizing situation, he prefers “swallow everything” to try that their children do not suffer. “I don’t spend a quiet night thinking about the eviction. But when I’m at home, I have to put on a good face because they are children and they have to eat, do their homework and try to lead a life as normal as possible,” says Fátima, who appeals to that the owners of flats in Huesca and those responsible for the bank “listen to us with affection and humanity and think of the children”.

The DGA recognizes its “concern” for the Social Rental Exchange

The Social Rental Exchange of the Department of Vertebration of the Territory, Mobility and Housing of the Government of Aragon has 24 applicants in Huesca with recognized law to access a home and seven more are being evaluated. In the capital there is 20 floors in this bag though three they stay free for emergencies, evictions and other situations of special vulnerability. In the last year no private dwelling has been incorporated, something that “worries” to the general director of Housing, Verónica Villagrasa, who anticipates that they are preparing an information campaign “to encourage homeowners to give up their empty homes to meet the most urgent demands.”

In 2020, Caritas Huesca attended 527 applications for housing-related aid that would mean 1,280 beneficiaries. Most have the same problem as Fatima, finding a decent and affordable apartment “Because if the prices of the real estate market are already complicated if you have a normalized job, for a single person with children who works part-time …”. The entity can only offer specific support “because we do not have the capacity to maintain all the rents,” they emphasize.

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