Monday March 4th.
A dozen people wait expectantly at the Delegation of the Government of Spain in the Community of Madrid.
The confirmation that there is an agreement occurs when the afternoon dies and the night arrives: yes, the regional Executive of Isabel Díaz Ayuso approves the protocol that commits her together with the Government of Spain, and the City Councils of Madrid and Rivas Vaciamadrid, to invest 330 million euros until 2034 to relocate the thousands of people who live in Cañada Real, the largest illegal settlement in Europe.
The pact, which must be further explored during a meeting this Wednesday, directly affects the between 1,500 and 2,000 families registered in 2011 in this 16-kilometer strip that crosses Coslada, Madrid and Rivas Vaciamadrid to reach Getafe;
It will be opened later to people arriving after that date, if they meet the requirements;
and you will see how residents are moved to live in all areas of the region, without concentrating them in specific promotions.
This is how a source who knows the ins and outs of the negotiation and the protocol on which a future agreement will be based to articulate the investment summarizes the potential of the commitment: “The agreement is the commitment to definitively resolve the problem of shanty towns in La Cañada.
The funds are guaranteed so that the right to housing can be exercised for all Cañada families within a maximum of a decade.”
The new protocol is based on a 2022 draft accessed by EL PAÍS, which even then estimated “a maximum of 1,631 relocation processes.”
Also, that the investment of 330 million could be used for "the demolition of shanties, substandard housing and existing illegal constructions, as well as building rehabilitation and urban redevelopment and regeneration actions."
This mammoth figure will be divided into installments of 110 million euros for each of the three active levels of administration, and in proportion to the number of families relocated in each municipality.
And that “the relocation process would include the acquisition of housing, compensation, social support and other necessary expenses directly related to these.”
However, the announcement fills the residents of the settlement with doubts.
First, because they are not clear about what will happen to those who are not in the 2011 census ("A review of the situation of vulnerability will be carried out, so that no one is left out, and that it is guaranteed that the new beneficiaries do not have other properties, income , or help from family members," says a source familiar with the situation).
Second, due to the uncertainty caused by not knowing when they will have to move, which could occur between 2024 and 2034, or where they will end up living ("they will have decision-making capacity, they will be presented with proposals adapted to their work and social reality, and there will be no promotions." specific for rehousing”, details this interlocutor).
And third, because there are neighbors who are reluctant to move, as they cling to the social fabric that they have built in decades of neighborhood in Cañada and fear not being able to afford the rent for the new homes ("if they pay it, it will be symbolic: they will sign a contract and will have housing while their situation of social vulnerability is maintained.
That is why there are those who prefer the legalization of their homes and the restoration of electricity: more than 4,000 residents have been without electricity for more than three years.
Entrance to sector five of Cañada Real.
In the background, urbanizations of Rivas-Vaciamadrid.JJM
María López, a member of the legal team of the Luz Ya Platform, has learned of the agreement from the press.
She condemns that the plan has been structured “totally behind the backs of the neighbors and the associations.”
López, who was one of the representatives who brought to Brussels the demand for the restoration of electricity in the largest illegal settlement in Europe, considers it incongruous “that there is talk of relocation solutions when the population is being expelled, cutting off their electricity.” , and carrying out illegal demolitions to legitimize a strategy of forced eviction.”
The statement refers to the homes that have been demolished, while their inhabitants temporarily vacated them.
One of these cases, of a man who traveled to Morocco to visit his family and found his home reduced to rubble, has led to an investigation against the former high commissioner for the Cañada Real de la Comunidad and the head of urban discipline at the City Council of Madrid.
López also emphasizes that the bulk of the families “have already expressed that they do not want relocation.”
On Tuesday morning, a group of women attended a coexistence and mediation class at the community center in sector five of Cañada Real.
Since there is no light, the social worker who teaches the course has not been able to use the projector or turn on the heating, yet the debate has been heated throughout the lesson, as described by the attendees.
One of them is Basma Taoumi, 19 years old.
Her family does not want to opt for relocation.
“We prefer to stay here, but with light,” says the young woman, who declares herself happily accustomed to her house and her “patio.”
In Cañada they have woven a community, even if it is among the darkness.
Here they have their friends, family, the center where they go to train.
Little more.
They only ask for electricity.
“The need for a refrigerator or a freezer is urgent,” says the young woman, surrounded by a dozen women who nod behind their hijabs.
Each person provides details of their situation: “Since there is no electricity, we have to heat the house with a fireplace and all the clothes smell like smoke,” “a neighbor's little son almost died because he was poisoned by the coal from the generator,” “my The house has a bathroom, two bedrooms with a living room and a kitchen.
It is a normal and ordinary house, it only lacks electricity”, are some of the phrases with which they have tried to describe the daily suffering of living without electricity.
Siahm Boukhouima, 45, does not want to move from Cañada either, although he advocates for the neighbors who do prefer to leave.
“For the people you want to relocate, give them a light – literally – while you evict them.
“This is a total crime,” says the woman.
López, from the Luz Ya platform, reproaches “for talking about such a long period without providing a solution to the situations suffered by the people of Cañada Real.”
To Laura Castillo, a 29-year-old resident, it seems like “a very long-term solution,” while another neighbor in sector six highlights that “there are families with sick people who cannot wait.”
Those who want to take advantage of the relocation plan ask for more details of the homes offered to evaluate the impact of the move.
This Wednesday the Cañada Real Executive Committee will meet to draw up a roadmap that could reveal more details of Monday's announcement.
More information
Report: The journey of the Pérez de la Cañada Real to their first vertical house
This time is particularly suffered in Cañada Real.
“There are many difficulties in winter, because the solar panels cannot be charged,” details Taoumi, before adding: “We have not turned on the refrigerator for more than a month, we have to buy a kilo of meat to do it in the same afternoon, because we can't keep it."
These sufferings are well known to Castillo, who has lived his entire life in sector five of the settlement.
“In winter the cold is horrible.
You can't shower because the house is like an iceberg," highlights this nursing assistant, who remembers the difficulties she had during her training period: "When I had to study for exams until 2 or 3 in the morning I had to do it with a flashlight, it was very uncomfortable.”
Despite the inconveniences, in Cañada Real they feel at home.
They have expressed their identity in some murals that carry phrases such as: “These are our houses”, “this is not a garbage dump”, “light for the Cañada”.
Some of these statements are translated into Arabic, as an example of the multiculturalism of this settlement, which in its period of greatest occupation housed citizens of 17 different nationalities.
Some like Carolina Fernández, 79, have lived most of their lives here.
She arrived when Cañada still seemed more like the livestock route it always was.
She had some chickens and a horse.
“It cost us a lot of money to bring the light here.
We neighbors pay for it,” she says, rubbing her thumb on her index finger as a reminder of the investment, before pointing out the counters next to her house, which now serve an ornamental function.
“What relocation is that?” asks this woman who estimates the social rent that she would have to pay for a new home at 400 euros.
“We are going to turn to the European community and to whoever we need, because those of us who live here are not starving,” he says, while sunbathing at his house with his friend Agustina, who has also been in the neighborhood for more than 30 years.
The pact agreed upon by the Government of Spain, the Community of Madrid and the City Councils of Madrid and Rivas-Vaciamadrid contemplates an investment of 330 million euros until 2034. It is not the first announcement in this regard.
In 2017, the Community of Madrid, and the City Councils of Madrid, Coslada and Rivas signed the Cañada pact.
A year later, they allocated 18 million to resettle 150 families from sector 6. In 2021, 34 million to resettle 160 families.
The last agreement, before the one announced this Monday, occurred in 2023, when the regional and local administrations allocated 52 million to relocate another 180 families.
In total, these agreements have provided an alternative to more than 400 families in situations of serious social exclusion, according to a statement from the regional government.
But the new agreement must be the final one, according to the parties involved.
His plan is clear, and it is expeditious.
First, rehouse.
Immediately afterwards, demolish the vacated home so that no one occupies it again.
And when sectors are emptied, rebuild them with pending projects such as the metropolitan forest so that the largest illegal settlement in Europe is not perpetuated and forgotten.
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