Escalona is A town of Castilla-La Mancha that does not usually monopolize holders beyond the regional press. For a while, however, it is usual to find news that relate it to the illegal occupation of houses. And not because there is a serious problem (which It has been). No. The reason is that City Council has undertaken A real crusade Against the Okupas, which has led him to activate a Municipal Planopen a special office, upload homes and, now, offer a Free service to the neighbors to expedite the evictions during The first 48 hours.
At the moment it seems that it is not doing badly: the City Council presumes that illegal occupations have fallen more than 60%.
Escalona at war. In Escalonaa municipality in the province of Toledo de 3,800 neighborsthey have declared him The war to the illegal occupation of housing. And with forcefulness. Both in fact that in 2023 (just one year after activating its ‘antiokupa plan’) the Consistory calculated that the problem had already been reduced 75% In the municipality and the number of crimes, 70%had also collapsed. Since then the Consistory has not stopped and recently insisted in the legal facilities which offers to evict homes.
“There are no excuses”. The Escalona Crusade is not new. In fact, at least March 2021 can be traced, when the mayor Álvaro Gutiérrez(PSOE) sent A letter to the neighbors presenting the municipal plan against the illegal housing occupation. Your goal? Facing what, in the councilor’s opinion, is the “most difficult” challenge that faces the municipality: the squatters. “We cannot and do not want to look the other way. There are no excuses for illegal occupation,” starts. “Everyone has the right to housing, yes; but they must access it through legal instruments and social policies without harming the rights of others.”
And what do you think? The plan It soon in entering into force and basically rests on three legs. The main one is the creation of a “illegal anti-exploits” municipal office, an department dedicated to offering free legal advice to the housing owners of the town, regardless of whether or not they are registered there. Its objective: to expedite the procedures and that the owners of affected houses act rapidly during the First 48 hours of occupation, which can speed considerably The eviction.
With that purpose, the City Council of Escalona has created a “at risk” housing census and promotes the signing of agreements with both individuals and banks that have empty houses in the municipality. Thanks to them, the owners delegate their legal representation in the Consistory so that it can immediately denounce an illegal occupation in court. The objective is the same: shorten times and take advantage of the first 48 hours of the occupation to, In the words of the Consistorylook for the “express eviction.”
Disused house, house upholstered. The second leg of the ‘Antiokupas Plan’ consists of an ordinance that forces to upholler or install special doors and windows in those homes that remain permanently empty. The measure, Gutiérrez clarified In his letter, he addresses mainly to the financial entities that have empty houses and without tenants in portfolio. “If they do not proceed in the stipulated time, the appropriate judicial file will begin so that the City Council can be carried out with the relevant judicial authorization,” The mayor warnsthat also warns of fines and sanctions for those who do not comply.
And is it done? That seems. The City Council estimates that only in March 2022, with the newly activated antiokupa plan, the doors and windows of 40 homes distributed by neighborhoods and urbanizations of the town. And his intention was to continue doing it, blocking another 10 short -term buildings. In his Balance of 2023 He already spoke of more than fifty houses with the windows and doors closed to lime and song to keep the squatters away, a work that at least in some cases is done with local resources.
Tightening via taxes. To prevent empty homes in the hands of banks, the ‘Antiokupa Plan’ also contemplates the creation of a tax designed for financial entities with buildings at risk. Its logic is very simple: if the owner (bank, vulture fund, etc.) refuses to install enclosures or upholster the house and neither does it allocate to social rental faces a special rate. “The first leg is to discourage the policy of fallen arms by financial entities to this serious problem with economic incentives,” The letter points out.
In informing the building of buildings, the City Council in fact recalls that this is its last option. “We must remember that 100% of these homes come from financial entities, investment funds or vulture funds and that have been urged to rent to vulnerable families. The upholstered is the last resort to avoid its use for illicit purposes,” They claim from the Toledo municipality.
City Hall … And something else. The third leg of the Plan relies on organizations and entities that go beyond the Consistory itself, such as the Civil Guard, the use of private security to “reinforce special operations against crime” in high season or expand the local police body with new places. And they are not the only resources of the City Council. Your plan He talks about agreements with “supply entities” to “expedite the supply cuts of illegal hooks of occupied homes.”
Notarial powers. In May the local government made it easier for the owners of houses occupied to resort to justice by informing of a new municipal service, a free mediation so that any affected owner can benefit from the last legal news and empty your home in 48 hours.
“The City Council offers all the owners of occupied homes assume the judicial and notarial costs if the notarial power is granted to submit the demand in the courts and thus expedite the eviction,” Inform The Consistory. “This new measure joins the plan against illegal occupations thanks to which, according to the information of the Civil Guard, Escalona has managed to reduce illegal occupations with respect to the peak.”
How serious is the problem? That Escalona has decided to move squeeze such overwhelming is no coincidence. From the entrance the town faces some demographic challenges of draft, such as those distributed that are their population centers or the oscillations in its register throughout the year. “We have the powers and resources of any municipality of 3,400 registered, but population peaks that exceed 25,000 inhabitants,” warned Gutierrez in his 2021 letter.
To this is added the record of occupation that came to suffer, with more than 130 housing affected, according to The SER chain, and the different profiles of the squatters. During An interview granted just a few months ago ABCÁlvaro Gutiérrez said that in the town there are “seasonal occupations, second residence.” “This is already curling the curl. They are people who live in Madrid or wherever and who have housing occupied in Escalona to go the weekend or who occupy them to be during the summer.”
Images | Escalona City Council
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