Images: Sergio Betancort
A court order forces the eviction of 44 homes in the Loma Verde complex, in Puerto del Carmen. Not all of them are inhabited, although most of them are. They are people who have occupied these homes, some even families with children, and who now have to leave them.
The Loma Verde apartments were formerly a tourist complex, which became residential. Some of these homes were sold, but others were foreclosed by La Caja de Canarias. And it is precisely these apartments that will now be evicted, after a judge has determined so.
In these homes, according to the Councilor for Social Services of the Tías City Council, Jéssica Suárez, live people "in an irregular situation." That is, squatters. Some because in their day they claim they were scammed and, others, because they directly learned that those homes were owned by the bank and were abandoned and, then, decided to occupy them.
The news has not been well received by most of these people, who were notified this Thursday that they had to vacate their homes. A few began to move their things but the vast majority do not even know what to do. "It's an outrage. The court order has been in place since January 24, according to what they have told us, and now they are warning us that tomorrow we have to leave this empty. I don't have a job and I don't know where to go," says Eleany.
Testimonials
This woman says that she entered the house two years ago "as a rental." However, whoever rented it to her "was not the owner." And it is that, according to the Councilor for Social Services, apparently there was a time when a group of people dedicated themselves to renting these homes "illegally", without having the property.
"I entered paying rent, with a verbal contract, until the pot was uncovered and I found out that he was not the owner and that he was scamming me. Then I reported it, but everything has been filed. And now I find myself with this, that I have to go to the street with two small children that I have. It's an injustice," says Eleany, who says she feels "desperate and distressed."
There are other people who entered the houses fully aware that they were occupying them. That is the case of Aída Varela, a young girl and mother of a child, who arrived at these homes just a few months ago. "I knew they were empty, that they were owned by the bank and I decided to get into them", says Aída, who assures that, even so, the news of the eviction has caught her "by surprise", since she expected to be warned with "more time."
Aída points out that she barely has resources to go to another place. "I don't work and my partner barely earns 400 euros a month and also has another child," she says. For this reason, she says that she will try to resist. "We have been warned from one day to the next and I know that there are people here worse than me, but I think that if we all unite we may be able to reach even a small agreement so that they give us some more time to vacate."
In Aída's situation there are a few more people. With her, there is a group of boys, who reside in several homes in this area. Two of them, who have been there since 2009, claim that they also had a contract and that they were scammed. However, the other two admit that they occupied the houses because they knew they were empty. Even, one of them affirms that he is awaiting trial for this reason. "They reported me as soon as I entered the house six months ago."
None of them has a job or receives any help but, even so, they are not very worried about the eviction. "I have been a squatter before, so I will find another place," says one of them.
"Punctual" help
After learning of the judge's notification, the Tías City Council has begun to identify the people who live in these homes to collect information about them. And it is that, according to the Councilor for Social Services, Jéssica Suárez, "punctual help" will be provided to people without resources and, above all, to those with minor children, so that they have a place to sleep. "We are talking with the Cabildo to find a way to do it," she says.
In fact, according to Suárez, they have spoken with the school that these minors attend so that they can stay in the dining room and in extracurricular activities, so that when they leave there, they already have a place to go.
Drugs, robberies and fights
The other version comes from the people who do own a home in Loma Verde and who reside in it."The neighbors say that it has been two years of ordeal", said the Councilor for Social Services, Jéssica Suárez. And it is that, according to a neighbor and owner of one of the homes in the Loma Verde complex, Pilar Loureiro, since the empty houses were occupied there have been problems of "drugs, fights and even robberies."
For this reason, this woman, who has been waiting for this eviction to take place for years, hopes that "this time it will be the definitive one." "We live in fear. There are families with small children and sometimes they have to be locked in their houses with keys, because there are fights," explains Pilar, who affirms that the Civil Guard has to go "almost every day."
According to Pilar, the owners, apart from paying the Community, also have to pay for what is consumed throughout the complex. And, therefore, the water and electricity that people who have occupied homes spend. "We have to pay their expenses. And they say they have no money, but many of them then arrive and buy a car."
In addition, according to Pilar, there are also some neighbors who have taken advantage of all this. And it is that, according to her, there are some people who were in charge of opening the homes to the squatters and charged for it. "There is a man who charged the squatters 300 euros for opening the house for them. Everyone does business here," concludes this neighbor.