A corrala is a residential building originally typical to several cities in Spain. The small dwellings are constructed in blocks around an internal communal patio area where much of the community life takes place. In this article the corralas being referred to are those that have been occupied by rehomed families who are no longer able to pay rent and are at risk of homelessness (an initiative assisted by the 15M movement).
The families of "Freedom Corrala", in Seville, will now be associates in a housing cooperative to which the entire building rented.
By Editorial Andalucía, Hazeina Rodríguez / Translation: Rob Dyas & Susana Macías Pascua
The "Freedom Corrala" will soon be converted into a housing cooperative following an agreement with the owner of their building located in calle Evangelista 12, in the neighbourhood of Triana in Seville. Seven families will now be housed there who had previously been evicted from their repossessed homes. Amongst them are young children and one person with a severe disability. The agreement was announced at an emotional press conference, interrupted with shouts of "yes we can" and culminating in applause from other tenants and members from the 15M assemblies.
The families will now change from "rehoused" status to "associates" of the "Freedom Corrala Cooperative Society of Andalucia", a legal entity to which the owner "has granted the rental of the property at a rent fixed according to the payment capacity of the families in the cooperative", in the words of Eva, a member of the 15M housing group. The whole property will be let to the new cooperative at €600 a month. According to their explanation, the cooperative itself will then grant use of the homes to each family involved.
"A housing cooperative is a collective of people that, due to a communal necessity of shelter, decide to work together to find a solution to this basic necessity, according to values of mutual aid, equality, democracy and social responsibility", this is how Eva defines the model. "This is the legal entity that has proved to be the best in managing the process to date", and with which they are trying to "recuperate the house as a social asset and detach it from the logic of the market, a logic more concerned with the economic returns than the fundamental rights of the population which the home is part of".
One of the occupants of the "Freedom Corrala" also stated that she was grateful for all the support received and sent a message to the families "that find themselves in the same situation as us", to tell them that "they should know that the struggle is possible, that we are here for anything they need and that yes they can". Paco, another of the new "associates" of the Corrala, points out that "this collective is the thing making us strong and without it we wouldn´t achieve anything".
Enrique, the lawyer for the 17th March Group, who legally assists several corralas, has indicated that when "we adopt a legal assistance and possible defense of the persons that have decided to work on these corralas, we always have in mind that it could end in a penal process, we never imagined this result that has become a test case experience".
He explained that it was the owner, who prefers to remain anonymous, that contacted the families "as a result of the pressures from the police since Christmas Eve for him to report the occupation".
Adela, from the Intercomission of Housing 15M Seville, has welcomed this agreement as "very positive, because besides the fact that it stabilizes the families' situation, it may set a legal precedent for the rest of the corralas and the thousands of families who are in the streets". She insisted that "both the Government of Andalusia and the State must respond once and for all". To that end, she has urged the Government of Andalusia to declare "a state of Habitacion Emergency", which would allow for the "putting at the people's disposal many empty buildings currently in the hands of the banks, not just because these people need them but because they are entitled to them".
Manuela, from "Utopia Corrala", a pioneer in this fight, is overjoyed at seeing "an exciting new future in prospect". She couldn't avoid being overwhelmed by emotion several times during her statement, as "we have been through extremely tough times for eight months now". However, she finishes by pointing out that "we will carry on and we will succeed; with or without jobs, without water or electricity, we will carry on".
This is the first agreement reached between a corrala of rehomed families and the building ownership. Contributions from the Intercomission of Housing, the 15 M local assemblies, together with the exisiting Housing Information and Meeting Points in Seville city and province were also mentioned, as well as gratitude for the great welcome provided to the families of the "Freedom Corrala" by the neighbourhood of Triana.
"Utopia Corrala" is still trying to reach a solution with Ibercaja (Savings bank), the current owner of the building which gave shelter since May 2012 to the first of the six Corralas that now exist. For that purpose, the Housing and Urban Development Office of the Government of Andalusia, the City Council of Seville together with the Andalusian Ombudsman are keeping negotiations open. Another two corralas, "Expectation" and "Hope", have been in contact with this last institution so that it might mediate between them and the title holders of the flats that are now their homes.
[This article was originally published in Spanish on January 30th, 2012]