Addressing the crisis: Non-Payment of rent in Málaga’s Social Housing
This headline in Diario Sur sums up the problem – ‘El Ayuntamiento de Málaga apenas consigue cobrar la mitad de los alquileres sociales, que acumulan una deuda de 30 millones
de euros’. (The Town Hall of Málaga barely manages to collect half the rent from social rents, and has accumulated a debt of 30 million euros.)
People demand houses, public or private, and then don’t pay for them. The public ones are built using taxed money, so it’s us all that are being ‘robbed’ by those not paying. In private
rentals it’s the individuals and businesses that are being ‘robbed’ of income, so they put their money elsewhere or leave the places empty. Then if they are empty, the okupas come in and again don’t pay anything plus often vandalising the place.
When it comes down to it, there must be penalties for not paying for accommodation. If you occupy a hotel room and don’t pay, you are penalised for fraud. Surely, it’s the same with
non-payment of rent. The occupier has agreed a lease, but then doesn’t comply with it and so should be penalised. There can’t be any social justice in favouring non-payers over everyone else.
