Εncounter Athens:Defending the right to decent housing for all

In Greece, the housing issue at present is mainly due to the orchestrated impoverishment of the people, starting from the stock market bubble and reaching the point of severe cuts on wages and pensions in the name of the public debt. 

Our homes, and public property in general, are being sacrificed, for the sake of this debt, with the use of legislative measures. Each of the recently voted Memoranda brought a set of laws to entrench and safeguard the interests of the creditors. On top of that, the accompanying law on the PSI (the so-called ‘trimming’ of the debt) as well as a law voted in parliament on 14/1/2013 ratifying the related legislative acts, have diminished all kinds of protective measures that used to secure private and public property against the predatory strategies of Greece’s creditors. 

Through these laws, the Greek government has granted every piece of moveable and immovable asset to TAIPED- the Fund for the deployment of the private property of the state- which ensures the servicing of the public debt. Through these laws, the creditors acquire the right to confiscate Greek public assets, both moveable and immovable. Greek citizens, through taxation, are bound to these assets, as private property may be confiscated by the state only to be offered to its creditors (English law, EU directives 44/2001 and 805/ 2004). 

We, the Social Solidarity Network of Exarcheia, in coordination with other movements, resist and mobilize against the above. We strive to expose the strategies of over-taxation pursued by the government and deny their legality. We refuse, not only to pay the imposed taxes, but also try to subvert the measures taken to entrench them. Our struggle against the tax-imposing policy is a struggle against the ongoing impoverishment, a struggle to protect the fundamental right to housing. 

The Bank Loans Front 

The orchestrated impoverishment of the Greek people has opened up the pathway to confiscations of private assets and repossessions by the banks. Hundreds of thousands of households under mortgages are unable to cover basic needs and pay for their housing loans. This involves a good 50% of mortgages as well as consumer loans. According to a recent law (known as the ‘Katseli’ law), public auctions are frozen for assets valued below 200.000 euros. However, confiscations/ repossessions of thousands of small properties are around the corner if we consider the imminent increase of land values planned by the government. 

In the face of this double threat launched by the government and the banks, we all consider ourselves as potentially homeless, no matter whether we owe money to the government and the banks or not, no matter whether we are house-owners or renters. 

Our actions aim, on the one hand, to protect housing rights and, on the other hand, to resist future repossessions and evictions. To this end, we recently organized a public discussion on possible courses of action, which proved very fruitful. 

Our struggle seeks to secure the right to housing as a basic social right, like health, education and culture. We demand that the homeless be accommodated in unused buildings. We demand the reconstitution of the Organization for Social Housing. We demand a policy of rent subsidies for low-income social groups. 

Against the Commodification of Housing 

The commodification of housing through government policy implicates a series of official and private-capital interests which involve the government, the banks, real estate companies and large-scale planning of investments and disinvestments in specific areas. 

In this sense, the commodification of housing becomes a field of severe speculation and, hence, the fear of confiscation acts as a repressive measure against every aspect of social struggle. Therefore, our struggle against the commodification of housing seeks to inform people and eliminate the widespread fear and divisions between small-scale owners and renters, between legal and illegal settlements. 

Land Speculation and Spatial Planning Policy 

Historically, planning policies have utilized real estate investments and disinvestments in order to move populations around, aiming in this way to upgrade or degrade accordingly neighbourhoods within cities and wider geographical areas. This uneven development has had various repercussions, depending on the scale of planning. On the one hand, over-supply of labour and, on the other hand, the tacit divisions among residents of areas have facilitated this ongoing strategy of ‘divide and rule’. Planning policies have never been innocent, never random. They have acted as a profit gaining tool and a social control and repression mechanism. 

Finally, we should not forget that the right to decent housing also is closely bound to a series of other rights such as cheap transportation, sufficient public infrastructure, aesthetic upgrading and the protection of the environment. Hence, the movement for housing seeks to include actions that encompass all the above and embrace the struggles of neighbourhood movements around these rights. 

Conclusion and action being taken 

To sum up, our homes are in danger, not only by the state and the banks, but also by real estate and big construction companies, as well as environmental degradation. Our personal choices are important in this regard. We must not allow authority to set up its own profit-game on the very need for dignified housing. 

To this end, we are currently: 

Identifying and registering abandoned buildings (public or not likely to be claimed by their owners), with a view to housing homeless fellow citizens, especially the newly impoverished ones, who have not had the time yet to become immersed in self-depreciation. 

Collaborating with existing organisations for the homeless, so as to gain from their experience in how to effectively approach the homeless in a non-condescending manner. 

Actively supporting squats and already occupied buildings acting as social centres. Only last week there was a protest march of the various self-organised groups in the area, against police repression and brutality and in defence of squats and social centres in Exarcheia. 

Creating a network of people that will be available to take immediate action to stop repossessions and evictions. So far we have been successful a number of times in stopping the disconnection of power supply to many who could not pay either the electricity bills or their taxes, and believe it can also work in the case of repossessions and evictions. 

At this very moment, we are collaborating with citizens’ committees and popular assemblies from 36 different areas of Athens and Attica, with the purpose of organizing a rally against the new tax bill, as it will greatly aggravate the situation for the weaker many. 

We also participate in anti-fascist movements and initiatives, one of which will be taking place tomorrow in nearby Abelokipi, against the opening of Golden Dawn’s (the Greek neonazi party) offices in the area. For those who think it unrelated to the housing issue, suffice it to say that the real estate has had great opportunity to rejoice at the establishment of the Ayios Pantelehimonas and Attiki Square precincts as the Golden Dawn’s headquarters, because the reign of fear has, apart from everything else, pushed many residents to sell out and leave. 

Sensitising landlords who have not been receiving their rent to the risk of having their flats left vacant indefinitely and thus persuading them not to evict the renters but try to find some middle ground, by lowering their demands and reducing the rent, even leaving the rental unrecorded. 

Producing and disseminating printed informative and rallying material, as well as maintaining a very active blog. 

Informing small-scale property owners who are in debt (to banks or the state) about the options available to them so that they will not lose their homes. This could vary from bringing them in contact with consumer rights organisations or lawyers, if they choose to come to an arrangement with the bank or restructure their debt, to recognising total refusal to pay –in the case, for example, of taxes perceived to be unjust and/ or anti-constitutional- as a form of civil disobedience. 

We hold regular meetings and anyone from the neighbourhood but also from other areas is free to join and express their opinion. It should be noted, though, that we will not do something for the people who come to us, but we will do something with them. It is this very notion of assignment that we are striving to resist, as it is the only way to the citizens’ bottom-up empowerment and emancipation, advocated and sought by all social movements and neighbourhood assemblies. 

We are here not only to try and keep the wolf from the door. What’s more, we are here to defend our home –in the sense of our personal residence but, more importantly, in terms of community ties and solidarity- against the menacing wolves of neoliberal governments, their creditors and their watchdogs. 

Thank you for listening! 

Social Solidarity Network of Exarcheia –Neapolis - Mousseion