European Revolution reports on the #viviendadigna movement:
The outraged movement in Spain has already prevented almost 47 evictions, according to the Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH in Spanish http://afectadosporlahipoteca.wordpress.com/), which aims to defend the “right to housing”. From their website they are constantly making to ensure that families with financial problems avoid becoming homeless, denouncing that real estate speculation has led many families to inhumane situations. They also denounce the fact that, in Spain, around 180 evictions are executed each day, too many to be stopped.
The platform prevented the first eviction in November 2010, way before new groups from the 15M movement, such as Real Democracy Now! and Acampada Sol, joined them. Thanks to them Lluís Martí, an unemployed father and his nine year old son could continue to live in their home in Catalonia, despite being unable to pay their debt. On the 7th of July, the group successfully disrupted the eviction of a 55 year old woman from Madrid, who is unemployed and has to take care of a severely disabled son of 25. Problems for this family started 18 years ago when the mother mortgaged their house to help her ex-partner pay some debts. In 2002, after the relationship had ended and she found herself unable to pay, she went to a financial agency, that in turn went to the bank Caja de Ahorros Mediterraneo (CAM), that in turn gave her a new loan of 157 thousand euros. Today, in 2011, the financial entity, adding expenditures and interest rates, demands that she return 200 thousand euros, a sum way out of her reach. Among the protesters there were at least two other people that have managed to delay their evictions thanks to the platform’s actions. One was Anwar Khalil from the neighborhood of Tetuan, the first sucessful action in Madrid, and the other one Luis, an 70 year old man from Parla, also in Madrid. To achieve their goal the group summons the public and media to stand in front of the house, blocking the Government inspector from entering and therefore delaying the process, as it has to pass through court again.
For more information, see the full European Revolution report and this other one from Associated Press. In terms of local Spanish sites see Stop Deshaucios mapping reports of evictions and Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca or PAH, the original movement behind the protests against evictions.