Tenants form a union – What problems do they face?

The housing crisis in Greece is now felt particularly acutely in large urban centers. Renters are desperate to find affordable housing, and many landlords are taking advantage of this by demanding exorbitant prices or giving three-month deadlines to turn a home into an Airbnb.

Renters in Thessaloniki have decided to join forces and try to reverse this unsustainable situation, because in five years the price increase in the city center has reached 40%. Their main goal is to create a group for mutual aid, legal advocacy and advocacy in favor of legislation and significant reforms in housing policy.

Finding housing and protection from abuse by landlords and real estate agents are among the main issues of concern to the newly formed group, which met for the first time on Monday in the Water Hall of Thessaloniki City Hall.

In addition to creating an association with ongoing action, the ultimate goal is also pressure from a large part of society to create protective legislation

The goal is to protect the rights of those who rent housing in the city of Thessaloniki through public speeches and movement-type actions. At the same time, within the association, troubled downtown multifamily properties were denounced by companies and individuals operating as cartels.

Poster calling for the creation of the Thessaloniki Tenants’ Association.

Unprecedented housing crisis – “Housing is a right”

“Housing is a right, not a commodity or a luxury item” is one of the most characteristic phrases uttered at the event, speaking about the unprecedented housing crisis in the city of Thessaloniki. Also considered problematic is the rise in prices, which reaches 40% in five years, with the average price exceeding 10 euros per square meter. They say their goal is to achieve a legislative solution that, in practice, again recognizes the right to housing.

Essentially, it’s an initiative with a “flavor” of Barcelona, ​​Amsterdam, Berlin and London, where similar groups were created in the early years of the dominance of home sharing and especially AirBnb.

With a very attractive income of 3 times what a homeowner could earn from a long-term rental, local residents were gradually displaced in favor of tourists.

Commercial enterprises were similarly displaced, replaced by shops aimed at tourists, with prices to match. This situation is especially evident in such Athens areas as Koukaki, Plaka, Exarchia, and more recently in the areas of Keramikos and Metaxurgeo. In other words, “gentrification” in practice.

As stated in the call at the first meeting on November 29, “We shared our experience of living in rent, the arbitrariness of real estate agents and landlords, to whom we pay most of our low wages. There we also planned how we should organize ourselves, how to offer direct assistance in solving everyday problems associated with the lack of protection for tenants, as well as acting in an organized and institutional manner, demanding structural political intervention in the interests of tenants.”

Lots of problems
People who attend the event feel that they are excluded from bank lending and that market prices do not reflect the true value of housing. As a result, they are forced to remain in rented housing without the opportunity to purchase it in installments equivalent to the rent. It has been reported that landlords or real estate agents request tax returns in order to “cut off” potential tenants whom they consider unsafe to pay rent.

Other speakers described cases where landlords failed to repair damage in a timely manner, as well as the complete loss of protection for first homes. This problem is expected will worsen in 2024 as hundreds of thousands of homes are auctioned off, shifting them en masse to real estate companies, creating a more pronounced oligopolistic market. It has been noted that many young and… not so young people are forced to return to their parents’ home when rent increases are required, and the general accuracy and prices of electricity combined with very low salaries exacerbate the problem.

The purpose of creating the Association is to ensure legal protection for tenants, lobbying for the creation of an institutional framework to protect the right to housing and legal protection. The goal is to gather between 300 and 400 people, of which the active members should be divided into various working groups with specific responsibilities for communication, actions and charter. In total, all members of the association will participate in public speaking. The establishment date of the Association will be announced once the required number of members has been reached.

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