Lots of small villages in Andalucia used to have casas de los maestros where the teachers who were brought in to work at the village school lived.

Otívar used to have them next to the lower school, which were just two-up, two-down affairs with a tiny back patio. However, the ones concerned in this article are the ones in Torrenueva Costa, which are next to the old lookout tower at the entrance to the town.

They were built years ago for the teachers who taught at the Colegio Pío XII but had long lost their original use and had been turned into storerooms and somewhere for associations to have their meeting point.

However, two years back, squatters found their way into them and have lived there ever since.

On the 10th of July, the Mayor through a municipal decree announced that work would begin on that street, Calle Vivienda de los Maestros which is near the Medical Centre. The Town Hall wants to enlarge the Watchtower Park, but that they had detected “persons occupying properties.”

The decree was to inform local residents of the impending street work, so that they would remove parked vehicles etc. The work was to commence at the end of the Virgen del Carmen fiestas (20th). This work entails the demolition of the old, teachers’ housing.

The squatters, amongst whom is a young couple with two young kids and a baby, have presented an appeal against the Mayor’s decree in order to have the eviction postponed. Their lawyer considers that the Town Hall has not gone through all the required social steps nor invited them to appear and argue their case.

The lawyer says that they have nowhere else to go and that amongst them is an elderly man who only receives a minimum pension. Another occupant receives a disability pension, as well as another woman who lives off charity donations. Their main complaint is that they have not been offered a dignified alternative.

Remember that there are several houses in terrace form, not just one; hence the diversity in occupants.

“We have caused no harm nor nuisance to anybody and if these houses had belonged to another family, we would never have taken up residence here,” explained the mother of three. She said that social services had arranged her empandronmiento so that her kids could attend the local school and that she had cleaned it all out of the refuse left by bottle parties, etc.

“The police come back regularly,” she said, explaining that the house that she occupies had only been used as a store.

The Town Hall, on the other hand, says that it will go ahead with its plans and that some squatters had threatened members of the association that use these old houses as their offices.

The local PSOE (socialists) explained that the houses were built in 1960 and have been conserved as municipal heritage and for this reason are against the demolition. They also demand a solution for the families involved.

(News: Torrenueva Costa, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – Source: Ideal/PGT)