The spokesperson for the Socialist Municipal Group, Reyes Maroto, demanded this Thursday that the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, “stop making a fool of himself” with his complaints about the presence of knives and cobblestones in the encampment for housing installed in the Puerta del Sol and that, instead, he promote concrete measures, such as the mobilization of empty housing.
Maroto made these statements to the media during the presentation of the initiative that the municipal PSOE will take to the plenary sessions of the 21 Municipal District Boards, with which it intends for the City Council to activate the 1,300 empty municipal homes against evictions.
“Let him listen to the citizens”
“I ask Mr. Almeida to stop looking the other way, to listen to the citizens and to put on the table the solutions that are within his competence,” said the socialist spokesperson, who has placed the situation of the capital in a context of “housing emergency.”
In that vein, she insisted that the mayor must heed the voice of the street and adopt responses to a crisis that, in her opinion, is affecting numerous families. “He has decided to do nothing and that is favoring speculators and making life impossible for many families,” she denounced.
The spokesperson for the municipal PSOE also criticized the mayor for focusing his attention on reports about alleged knives, cobblestones, and graffiti in Sol, instead of proposing housing solutions.
Proposal in Cibeles and in the 21 districts
Maroto explained that the group will again take to the extraordinary Plenary Session of Cibeles to address the housing emergency, scheduled in principle for day 5, the urgent motion that was not debated this Tuesday in the ordinary plenary session. This initiative proposes, on the one hand, to mobilize empty municipal homes within a period of three months and, on the other hand, to approve a protocol for the prevention of evictions for vulnerable families.
The two demands will now be transferred to the district boards, because, as the socialist spokesperson has defended, it is the “closest” administration, with the capacity to act through social services and to accompany families in the neighborhoods.
“This is a matter of social emergency and, therefore, these homes must be made available to families to protect what they love most, which are their homes,” Maroto stressed.
More reinforcement for Social Services and more agility in awarding
In the proposals that the PSOE will present in the districts, it is also requested to reinforce the action of the Social Services of each district, considering that they are essential to detect situations of residential vulnerability, carry out an early assessment of affected families and coordinate with the competent municipal services in housing matters.
In addition, the socialists will ask for the procedures to be streamlined so that currently vacant municipal housing can be awarded and prioritized for situations of residential emergency and special vulnerability.
“Almeida cannot look the other way while Madrid families lose their homes”, Maroto stated, before adding that “citizens are demanding solutions from administrations given the seriousness of the housing crisis”.
Demand to the PP to support housing decrees
The socialist spokesperson has also appealed to the Popular Party (PP) to vote in favor of the validation of the two royal decree-laws on housing approved by the Council of Ministers this Tuesday. “The Popular Party has to show its true colors because its votes would be enough to approve the two royal decrees”, she pointed out.
