Fundación Secretariado Gitano

One year without electricity supply in Cañada Real (Madrid) How much longer? [editar]

• Madrid

During the spring and summer, the families in Cañada Real have endured the heat without refrigerators or fans; now winter is approaching and will bring the rain, low temperatures and increased risks for so many unprotected people.

For all these reasons, the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, as a leading organisation that has been directly working for years with the families of Cañada Real, want to once again highlight this violation of the rights of the people suffering this situation, namely the rights to decent living conditions, health, housing, education, personal safety and not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment. We must remember the numerous health problems caused last winter as a result of the power cuts and the negative impact this situation is having on children due to their special vulnerability and at the beginning of the school year.

But above all, we want to take advantage of this sad anniversary to demand a structural response from the institutions to slums and enclaves at highly vulnerable situations which, like the Cañada Real, but also many others scattered throughout Spain, do not meet the minimum conditions of habitability and pose a serious risk to the health and safety of the families living in them, but also threaten equal opportunities and the dignity of people.

In the case of the Cañada Real, there is a specific political commitment, the Regional Pact for the Cañada, an instrument that must be complied with by the different administrations and parliamentary groups. In order to achieve this commitment, there is a favourable political framework and funding opportunities (the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Next Generation Funds, the future Spanish State Plan for Access to Housing 2022-2025, the European Cohesion Funds, etc.) that would allow for a comprehensive intervention in this type of enclaves for urban regeneration.

Measures must be put at place urgently so that a definitive solution to the Cañada can be found within a decade. These solutions should include plans for rehousing, rehabilitation and urbanisation of the areas, as established in the Regional Pact. Until then, solutions must be sought to guarantee basic supplies to families and thus avoid extreme urgency situations, such as those already happening.

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