Moroccan-Spanish Family Faces Housing Crisis in Crumbling Basque Country Building

Mohamed’s family lives on the third floor of a building. The building is in an advanced state of disrepair, with the wooden staircase steps creaking and the walls cracked. "There are four bedrooms, a huge living room, a large kitchen... My parents have renovated the house and when you’re inside, you forget the ruin you’re living in," says Mohamed. His sister and her children also live in the house, reports Diario Vasco.

The building was built in 1911 and "is in very poor condition... Before, six families lived here, but now we are only four because the city council evicted the other two about a year ago due to the danger of the situation," explains Mohamed. One of these families occupied the apartment that housed the headquarters of the Ballet Eibarrés ten years ago. "Can you imagine the conditions of a former ballet studio? The floor was rotten. A family of six children lived there" who paid a rent of 360 euros, he recounts.

Of the four occupied apartments, two are renovated and rented for just over "400 euros". Mohamed denounces this situation experienced by "many people, especially migrants. "When you come to another country, you need a place to sleep, to regularize your situation, to have papers. They offered me an apartment in this house for 30,000 euros. Imagine its condition for that price..." he criticizes.

On the ground floor of the building, there are several closed premises. "The house as it is today, without maintenance for years, can no longer be rehabilitated. They don’t even let us repair the leaky roof," laments Mohamed, noting that his mother, soon to be 70 years old, is forced to put buckets "every time it rains. It’s unfair."