Aurora

Squatting in a home is seen as a very serious crime that frightens society.

However, the reality of most “okupations” has another root: the abandonment of the obligations of public authorities to provide a roof for all citizens and enforce their right to housing. We, the Aurora journalists, are involved in the Stop Eviction group working with families forced to squat in empty houses owned by banks that have not been used for years and have been deteriorating.  These families are almost always parents with children and sometimes also grandmothers and grandfathers. They try to reach an agreement with the banks to pay an affordable rent based on their income. However, institutions do not make it easy to get housing from the banks or others who own the housing before they sell them to “vulture funds” for very low prices. Society treats homeless families as if they were criminals. Our group seeks to show with the accounts of these lives to society and to the institutions responsible for housing and welfare of citizens the “other side” of “okupation”. Covid-19 has aggravated this situation due to the deterioration of the employment and lives of many people in Spain.