2023-08-06 03:30:00
The tensions experienced in the Balsa Las Perlas sector due to repeated takeover attempts and the debate on the relocation of a settlement in Neuquén to carry out the works on the Paseo Costero updated the regional debate on the critical housing situation, which, among the difficulties in accessing owning a home and the skyrocketing prices and contraction of the rental market have turned the simple fact of having a place to live into a real drama for thousands of families.
Last July, Some 50 families occupied a piece of land owned by a private individual in Las Perlas. Following a court order, The police evicted the property on two occasions this month and ordered a custody, but the tension continues, since the neighbors assure that they will not give up their claims until they get some housing response from the municipality or the province. In the protest, the occupants denounced that there is little transparency in the sale and adjudication of land in the sector.
Another source of tension is in Virgen de Luján, where the Neuquén municipality intends to relocate a settlement where between 105 and 150 families reside. next to the river, near a gas pipeline and under the high voltage line. However, the main argument for the relocation is that this takeover blocks the works on the Paseo Costero, a priority for the municipality. Most of the families are reluctant to leave the place, because they have lived there for 20, 30 and 40 years in material houses and they are wary of the place where they intend to relocate them, far from their jobs and with service problems, they say.
Beyond these specific cases and the fact that the State cannot validate de facto and illegal modalities to resolve housing conflicts, the situations also reveal enormous delays and a lack of actions by the public sector to solve an urgent problem.
A report from the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC) in conjunction with leaders from the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ), Techo and the French Development Agency (AFD) released this week points out that in Argentina, one in three households does not have adequate housing, meaning that more than four million households have a housing deficit. Among the situations described are the lack of access to drinking water, sewers, gas or light, precarious housing. More than five million people live in informal neighborhoods, where 66% do not have access to electricity; 90%, to drinking water; 97%, to the sewage network, and 99%, to gas, according to data from 2022. The survey highlights that households in the worst conditions represent 32% of the entire country: 1.3 million of them do so in shared housing, where two or more households overlap each other, and 2.6 million reside in housing that requires expansion and improvements due to lack of essential services.
A historical complications to access their own home, aggravated by a decade of chronic inflation which translates into almost non-existence of mortgage loans for the middle class and the delay or cancellation of national and provincial projects to build social housing, Added to this is the contraction of the rental market, which due to inadequate legislation and the sharp rise in prices, has left millions of tenants extremely vulnerable and uncertain.
Among the proposed solutions, the organizations highlight the enactment of land use regulations, comprehensive housing improvement plans, the implementation of a national affordable rental program, the sustainability of socio-urban integration processes in popular neighborhoods, and the promotion of temporary emergency housing solutions.
All interesting and debatable initiatives, which should be one of the central axes of this electoral campaign and that nevertheless occupy a very marginal place in the discourse of the main candidates to occupy important public places.
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