Ararteko and Trustee call on the City of Vitoria-Gasteiz to restore water in the occupied houses of Olarizu
- The Ombudsmen of Vitoria-Gasteiz and the CAV have stressed that this is a hygiene measure to deal with the coronavirus. The City Council’s answer was no, unfortunately no. In Olarizu, dozens of people live, including minors.
In April 2019, the City Hall led by Mayor Gorka Uraran cut light and water to the neighbors of the abandoned houses of Olarizu Avenue in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Winter has passed under these conditions, and the health crisis and confinement have not changed the attitude of the City Hall.
The Ararteko, led by Manu Lezertua, issued a resolution on 7 May recommending the City Hall to re-establish water in the houses of Olarizu Avenue during the confinement. Among other issues, Ararteko has stressed that water is a basic need, with reference to international conventions. In addition, during the health crisis, water is an essential hygienic resource for dealing with the coronavirus, as explained by the Ararteko.
This Monday she was asked in Radio Vitoria for the Ararteko resolution to Leire Zugazua, from Vitoria-Gasteiz. The Ombudsman of Vitoria-Gasteiz replied that the request to the City Hall of the capital of Alavesa is the same. He recalled that people living in Olarizu are in a situation of serious exclusion, that Olarizu's homes do not meet the minimum conditions for habitability and that the situation also affects a number of minors.
City Hall: "Going to Social Services"
The City of Bilbao has given a negative response to both the Ararteko and the Receiver. He tells Ararteko that he will not restore water because the houses of Olarizu are not safe, but the Ararteko believes that the argument is not valid: “In the current situation, it is not consistent that safety reasons are raised in this building to deny the water supply, which is now essential to deal with the spread of the coronavirus.”
The mayor and other municipal representatives have repeated on several occasions that what Olarizu's neighbours have to do is leave their homes and go to the social emergency services of Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Social services: "There are no resources."
However, in the offices of San Antonio Street they respond to the citizenship that the resources are complete. "There are Olarizu families who have come to [social emergency social services], but they continue to live there, so they have not been able to offer an alternative," said Zugazua Receiver, asked about the attitude of the City Hall.
ARGIA reported on 10 May of a family living in Olarizu. Three families of minors had remained on the street during the confinement, after being expelled from the only room in which they lived. The family went to social services to ask for a shelter and was informed that, if they failed to do so, they would occupy it in Olarizu. The social worker responded that the resources were full and that she could do nothing until the situation was “extreme”. As a solution, he offered the family the payment of a trip to Valencia, at a time when that trip was forbidden by the state of alarm.
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