The couple, who have suffered several rental evictions, filed a patrimonial claim against the Community of Madrid.
Pau Pérez Sales, clinical director of the Sira Centre, explained the organisation's expert opinion before the court, which analyses the psychological damage and the impact on the family's life project due to the lack of institutional response.
Since 2017, Ahmed, Hakima and their children have suffered from a variety of rental evictions. The loss of employment and the lack of sufficient income to cover the cost of housing forced the family to stop paying the rent for their house, which they had been living in for some time. In 2018, after the final execution of the eviction, and without the administration offering them any decent housing alternative, the family was relocated to various municipal shelters in very poor conditions.
Before the eviction took place, the family had been applying for years for access to a social housing, and several extensions and suspensions. Among other reasons, they justified their request on the grounds of the proven disability of two of their children, the risk of social exclusion to which they were exposed and the fact that the owner of the first house from which they were evicted was a legal entity which owned more than 150 properties. However, all applications were dismissed.
In 2021, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will ruled that the Spanish State has the obligation to compensate the family, for not offering them a decent housing alternative after the eviction, ignoring their situation of vulnerability.
Now, in the context of a claim for compensation brought by the Centre for Counselling and Social Studies (CAES)), the couple have been able to witness the defence of their case before the High Court of Justice of Madrid. As CAES points out, The complaint is directed against the Community of Madrid which, according to the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy, is primarily responsible in this case. The complaint argues that there is a direct link between the Community's inaction and the damage suffered by the family.
Physical and psychological impacts
The Sira Centre contributed an expert report to the case that accredits the physical and psychological damage to the couple and their children, derived from the eviction process, the stay in shelters and the inaction of the public authorities. Pau Pérez Sales, The organisation's clinical director, detailed before the Madrid High Court of Justice some of the impacts of the expert work, including feelings of humiliation, fear, insecurity, social isolation or perception of discrimination and dehumanisation, among many others.
The restorative value of listening
At the exit of the Court, Javier Rubio, CAES lawyer, together with the Stop Evictions Platform Móstoles, The organisations expressed their satisfaction with the development of the hearing. The organisations highlighted the judge's interest in ensuring that all parties were fully heard, and underlined the restorative value of the fact that the couple was finally able to hear the defence of their case in court.