Two new social housing promotions available on the open market. At some point over 100 years ago, they felt the security of a safe home and were ready to leave. The tenants of two blocks located in the Ansanche de Vallecas district of the Villa de Vallecas district have united to denounce the “silent” management of the deprivation that has begun to occur, confirming that the Fundación la Caixa is selling these properties that are being sold to investment funds, as Cadena SER Adelantaba and this diary have confirmed. Intended for social rentals from 400 euros to 600 euros.
The recipe is not new. “It takes us out of the sea of speculation,” asserts David Jimenez, 55, who has lived on one of the floors of these blocks for 18 years. David immigrated with his 7-year-old son in 2007, shortly after the Caixa Social Work Program launched two promotions in Vallecas, located in Massateron 8-10 Streets and Fresno de Cantespino 1-3 Streets. The idea was to provide accommodation for children under 35 and over 65 who had difficulty accessing the villas.
“In order to die on one of the floors, you had to meet several requirements and have the maximum income,” comments David. He currently pays around 400 euros for his job, but he has a heart condition that makes him 49% disabled. Little by little, they began to see the 220 identical floors on which these blocks were located: 45 square meters, one dwelling, low-cost materials and functional design. “The Foundation has never made it difficult for us to renew,” he comments.
Until 2022, they began refusing to do it with those who did not win. “This has been happening for a long time, but because we didn’t extend the contract, we couldn’t get it for the remaining years, so there was an invisible loss,” explains Maria Diaz, one of the affected vehicles. The situation escalated in August this year when the real estate company Inmocaixa, which manages the floor, constantly read out a signed letter stating that the contract would not be renewed when it expired. No explanation, no details.
A Fundación spokesperson responded: “This is a promotion with an expired VPO and therefore passed on the open market. Tenants are always informed in a timely manner and always comply with the terms of the agreement signed by both parties.” He added that the government had worked for decades to promote access to housing for vulnerable people, but in recent years it had “reoriented its strategic actions, focusing on social programs” such as employment, child poverty, support for mayors and care for people with serious illnesses.
new letter
In October, they started receiving other letters. In this case, Fundación began receiving letters from Mosaic Propco SLU, the company that sold him the flooring, informing him that the contract depended on it. Following this news, Years has lost hope that it can be renewed, and many in the fund believe that what is happening to the fund is to subrogate the contract to another company so as not to bring home the suitcase image of having broken the contract.
The Hipoteca Impact Platform (PAH) is also joining these tenants in their fight. “After receiving subsidies and bailouts to build up social work, Caixabank now continues to seek to increase its profits through speculation through the sale of gold, while exploiting the struggle for poverty and children through image-washed foundations and threatening to disappoint people from minors, the elderly, and families with poor resources.”
They currently calculate that only 110 people from the InmoCaixa era are still offering contracts. At least four of these people are experiencing a “housing emergency,” with another 40 expected in the coming months. David was one of the first. His contract is a “silent” contract that expires in 2022, and he has refused to extend it. He told the court that his lawsuit gave, without extension, reason to believe that the foundation had acted fraudulently in the first moment, but the resolution was appealed and is still pending. “I continue to pay my rent and other accounts every month. I don’t have to return any receipts and I don’t have anything bad to say. This is a special situation,” says the old man, who worries that because of his situation, he will be evicted next definitively.
Maria has lived on this floor for 12 years and her contract expires in April 2026, but she says some people take longer than others who make false promises. “There’s the Enterra plant, and that’s the first thing that was aimed at mayors and people who didn’t want to go until they wanted to,” he explains.
Segun told the diary that he has informed the foundation that “the foundation always manually works with the government to find housing alternatives” if there appears to be a vulnerability, but has asserted in the past that no one has offered a solution at this time.
“It seems unusual to us that they keep saying they are offering us an alternative if the floor is not part of the fund. This just negates the idea that the new owners are a company open to hiding speculation,” says David. Both buildings have seasonal rental housing, the researchers report, and are rented for around 1,100 euros, two to three times the social rent. They also draw attention to the fact that some are sold at prices of around 250,000 euros, despite being “very modest living spaces without garages”.
“Unfortunately, this situation is not new, because in Madrid the Almeida is ruled by urban planners who serve speculators,” says Mas Madrid Mayor Eduardo Rubinho. “Mayors work for cities for the wealthy and tourists, but a housing crisis that affects working people does exactly the same thing.”
Madrid has met with neighboring countries and agreed to submit a proposal to the country’s Villa de Vallecas plenary, urging the Vivienda y Suero de Madrid Municipal Empresa (EMVS) to acquire these homes and negotiate with their current owners to include them in available public rental parks. They will also complain that evictions for older people are paralyzed during the operation for those who are released from their contracts, and that the district council’s social care services are supporting vulnerable people.
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