Franciscan Order, a property magnate in Spain takes to evicting the poor

First victim after the eviction moratorium ends: a religious order with more than 300 apartments evicts Mariano

"He is the first of a list of 60,000 people who could be evicted from their homes" by the votes of the PP, Vox, and Junts

Last Tuesday, the People's Party (PP), Vox, and Junts per Catalunya joined forces in the Congress of Deputies to overturn the social safety net, which included the eviction moratorium designed to protect vulnerable families. This Thursday, Mariano Ordaz faces the first eviction of the more than 60,000 that could occur after the suspension ends. A 66-year-old resident of the Embajadores neighborhood in Madrid faces eviction from the home he has lived in since birth, the same home his grandmother and parents once shared.

The speculator behind the eviction is the Venerable Third Order (VOT), a Franciscan religious institution that owns more than 300 apartments in central Madrid alone. This speculative accumulation of a basic necessity directly contradicts the Franciscan Order's vow of poverty and the supposed mandate of Saint Francis of Assisi, demonstrating that trusting in the good hearts of landlords is absurd, even when they claim to renounce material wealth and serve the disadvantaged.

"There is no longer any legal protection for residents like Mariano," the Tenants' Union, the organization supporting and fighting alongside him, told ElPlural.com. The existing moratorium on evictions wasn't a panacea either, functioning as a band-aid solution that even the courts disregarded when carrying out evictions, despite reports of vulnerability and even the involvement of minors. Nevertheless, it was "one of the few barriers we had," the Union points out, blaming the three right-wing parties in Spain.

Abandonment and neglect by the property owner

Number 1 Carnero Street will be the scene, at 11:00 a.m. this Thursday, of "the first eviction carried out since the eviction moratorium was rejected," laments the housing movement, which warns that "this case opens the door to a wave of up to 60,000 evictions of vulnerable families throughout the country." The excuse given by the religious order to evict Mariano is the need for renovations to the building, after part of the kitchen ceiling collapsed due to neglect by the owners, but the truth is that the conflict has been ongoing for years.

Mariano has endured “decades of neglect” and the “negligence” of his landlords. The plan was clear: to neglect the property to the point of endangering the tenant's life and then evict him by claiming it was uninhabitable. To make matters worse, he reports having suffered “a continuous situation of pressure and harassment from the landlords” without any interaction or “willingness to engage in dialogue.”

Mariano's Kitchen

“The building has serious structural and health problems stemming from a lack of maintenance. For years, the property has suffered from significant dampness and progressive deterioration that has rendered both the bathroom and kitchen unusable,” the Tenants' Union stated. However, the Franciscan owners have not taken responsibility for the maintenance and repairs, as required by law. “The situation reached a critical point on November 8th, when the kitchen ceiling collapsed,” and Mariano narrowly escaped with his life.

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