Fire and death on the highway that was not: land taken and a conflict with more than 40 years

The fire this Tuesday in Villa Ortúzar -and the death of a woman in the place- revealed for many residents of the City a housing situation that had been invisible for decades.

The one carried out by hundreds of families who live in this sector (number 4) of

It was part of the "Urban Highway Plan" designed by the last civic-military dictatorship, which remained unfinished.

At the site of the fire on Tuesday -Charlone 1645- there lived 33 families: 98 people, half girls, boys and adolescents, according to the data released in the last hours by the Buenos Aires Government.

They all

, with a front of 8.66 meters by almost 45 meters long.

It was a

and the fire destroyed all the existing structures.

This extremely precarious situation

And it logically affects not only the families themselves, but also those who share a dividing wall, in a complex coexistence.

The route of this unfinished highway crossed the City from Saavedra to Nueva Pompeya, passing through Villa Urquiza, Ortúzar, Chacarita, Villa Crespo, Almagro, Balvanera, San Cristobal and Boedo.

Hundreds of parcels, houses and even entire buildings

were

But the fate of all these lands did not have the same end.

1645 Charlone, the site of the tragic fire, which was occupied by 33 families.

Some parcels remained empty for decades, abandoned;

others were taken.

Although not all, there were families that achieved housing solutions.

A few blocks from the place of the fire, in what is known as zone 5 of the former AU3, the reality is very different.

There

which the real estate market renamed DoHo.

Dozens of bars and restaurants coexist with a

"With Donado-Holmberg, a certain balance was reached because there were solutions for the different actors. On the one hand, houses for the families that inhabited the plots in conflict, and on the other hand, the interest of the Buenos Aires government in selling very valuable land for private enterprises, and finally the neighbors who demanded

, explained the lawyer Jonatan Baldiviezo, from the NGO Observatorio del Derecho a la Ciudad. 

The plot where the tragic fire occurred in the trace of the former AU3, in Charlone 1645, before being occupied,

But he warned: "The case of

, because the parcels are dispersed, they are not entire blocks. The neighbors are not organized, perhaps they are more passive because until now they had not been affected."

However, at the judicial level there are three laws that protect families, which at different times were voted precisely to find various solutions (324 of 2000, 3396 of 2009 and Law 4089 of 2011).

Those who began to organize are the residents of these plots that have been taken over, precisely because

They had to evacuate their homes, some of them specifically affected by the flames.

In these days they will approach the Commune to speak with the authorities, as confirmed by

.

"There is a very worn-out relationship between all the neighbors; those who live on occupied land and those adjoining it. They

and things have not changed, they remain the same or worse. They have been responding to censuses for years and years and surveys," said Leonardo Lucchese Di Leva, a member of the community council (Frente de Todos).

He warned that the 33 families that occupied the property, 48 hours after the fire, were

In dialogue with this medium, the doctor in Social Sciences, María Eugenia Goicoechea -expert in urbanism, urban sociology and habitat and CONICET researcher- evaluated that there is a significant incidence of housing policies in these cases: "It is reactive, it responds to the demands of the neighborhood groups that are organized. Specifically, this is the big difference with other situations of precarious housing, such as Playón Chacarita, where there is an entire neighborhood organized and urban integration works have been carried out.

And he also analyzed the conditions of the habitat from the point of view of real estate pressure: "We live in a city with scarce land and in the specific case of Villa Ortúzar it is enduring strong market pressure. It is an area with a higher socio-residential level. lower than others like Belgrano or Núñez, for example. But the renovation process began a few years ago, also driven by the 2018 Urban Code reform that expanded construction capacity," he explained.

In October 2021

addressed this situation: at that time there were 80 lots for sale and 50 construction projects.

"The layout of the former AU3 generated a legal fragility regarding land tenure, which finally became visible with situations such as the fire on Charlone Street," concluded Goicoechea. 

What does the City say about the Charlone 1645 parcel?

According to data shared by the Ministry of Human Development and Habitat,

.

"He has an

In 2020, the court summoned the IVC to reach a final agreement for the relocation of the families, but we were never able to enter and survey the interior. The only information we accessed is that 20 families lived, but none was registered as a holder of a loan and/or housing subsidy," explained ministry sources.

The City knew the precarious state of the place.

"There were other interventions, the Relief Guard was even called to safeguard the physical integrity of the occupants. But

No progress was made with an agreement with the families," they argued.

At these times, they continue on the street, in the 25 de Agosto square, located a few blocks from the place.

From the minister they assured that

or to an evacuation center.

They denounced that the workers of the ministry are being verbally attacked by the families.

A gazebo was set up and for the moment minors are eating and resting there. 

"We are trying to advise families to

and we made the relevant social reports and referrals to the Secretariat of Social Inclusion and Immediate Care in order to manage admission to the Care Program for Families in Street Situations," they said. 

SC

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