(back)How NGOs help undocumented migrants to access housing in Spain
Some organizations that offer or rent accommodation at
low prices to the socially excluded don’t distinguish between those who are
documented and those undocumented. Two of these organizations are Red
Acoge and Provivienda.
Red Acoge
Red Acoge (a federation of 25 organizations helping immigrants
throughout Spain) takes on a person in one of its flats after a social worker
has evaluated that it is in a particularly vulnerable situation. Undocumented
migrants fit into this ‘very vulnerable’ category. For this reason they
occupy a great part of the accommodation of Red
Acoje, which has a capacity to house between 250 and 300 persons. Although
73% of its subsidies come from public funding[2],
it doesn’t discriminate undocumented migrants. In fact Blanca Ruiz explains
that the more undocumented migrants there are in Spain, more it will work with
them. The aim is not to house people for a night or two nor give them permanent
housing, but rather to provide a temporary free space to live and the resources
to find work and pay their own accommodation so they can vacate the flat. Red
Acoge proposes different programs according to its clients: a single person
in a grave situation may stay for one to three months, while women who are
pregnant or with young children may stay for longer.
Provivienda
Provivienda also mainly functions thanks to public funding (from
the regional government) and doesn’t distinguish between nationals, documented
and undocumented migrants. The people to whom it offers housing must satisfy
some criteria before signing the rental contract. First of all, they must prove
their identity with a passport, a residence permit or whatever document they
presently have in order. Secondly they must prove that they will be able to pay
the monthly rent, with a work contract, a written or verbal testimony from their
boss certifying their (more or less) stable and sufficient income, or some other
evidence that they hold enough money. The tenant signs the rental contract, but Provivienda
acts as a guarantor to the owner: if the tenant doesn’t pay, the organization
will. It also checks that the apartments meet basic sanitary criteria. One of Provivienda’s
main aims is to help establish a trust relationship between the owner and the
tenants during the first year of lease in order for it to continue without Provivienda’s mediation and support to both sides. For this reason
it also tries to sensitize owners on the fact that renting their property not
only provides money but also constitutes a business which must be taken care of.
The most families that the organization ever housed in a year were 235. It
estimates that more than half of the immigrants with whom it works are
undocumented and are especially people who haven’t been in Spain for long. Its
services to the owners and tenants are free, while all employee and maintenance
costs are taken care of by the annual budget. When Madrid’s regional
government asked Provivienda to design
a program that would encourage the access to housing for immigrants, one of Provivienda’s
conditions was that it would not get involved in putting into practice the
aliens law and create a double exclusion (of undocumented migrants instead of
immigrants in general). Esther Marcos explains: “We make no distinction
between regularized and not regularized persons. For us they are here, they have
a need, and we are able to meet it”. Provivienda
supports change in Spain’s housing culture and with this aim organizes
conferences, meetings and publications to sensitize the public on housing, on
what it represents in a person’s life, and on what the role of the public
administration is in satisfying this basic need.
Restricted by funders
Due to the public funding they receive, organizations
cannot go as far as they would like in their campaign work and worries are that
in the near future, the public administrations will become very serious towards
them to prevent the help to undocumented people. 90% of immigrant organizations
are receiving public funding. The public administrations haven’t told
organizations directly that it is illegal to help undocumented migrants so the
organizations continue struggling with this contradiction.
When these places no longer have space, they may redirect people towards other organizations that provide accommodation. Esther Marcos explains that there are so few resources with regards to housing that although one can direct people towards municipal or community services, it often unlikely they will be helped. Angela Sànchez expresses this concern for Provivienda’s work: “the amount of cases or families that we are able to work with is small in comparison with the number of cases that need our work”. The chances for finding a place to stay are greater in emergency situations, such as those of ill-treated women or families that are on the street.
[2] The rest of Red Acoge’s
subsidies come from private sources (8%) and their own funds (19%).