“Living this process in these houses that the City Council gave us for free with the same neighbors that we had in Campanar has been something very important for healing on an emotional level. We felt supported when we passed other families in the hallway, because we knew that they had experienced the same thing. For example, we worried about what the elderly were feeling. Emotionally, it has not been easy, and of all things, my sister, who was in the house at the time of the fire, is the most important asset that has been saved. And on the other hand, I thank God because the fire has not taken away our gratitude, both the authorities and the Spanish people have helped us a lot, they have supported us a lot. “We have sent letters of gratitude to the City Council and the Generalitat.”
Lysber Ramos Sol, 64, and his sister are among the 99 families affected by the tragic fire in Campanar on February 22, who stayed in the 131-unit building acquired a few months earlier by the Valencia City Council, in the Safranar neighborhood. Lysber was in Venezuela and at the very moment the fire started, he was talking on Zoom with his sister, who was at her home in Campanar: “She saw that a burning paper fell onto the balcony and she told me that something strange was happening. I told her to go down and ask the doorman and I didn’t hear from her again until she was able to call me from another phone to tell me that she was okay,” she explains to elDiario.es, visibly moved.
Upon his return to Valencia, he met his sister, who was already staying for free in one of the houses that the City Council had allocated to her for six months. This Monday, the deadline to evict them expired, since these homes must be allocated in an affordable rental form to families who are on the waiting list of the municipal register of candidates. According to him, they found an apartment nearby for 1,000 euros per month, the same price as in Campanar, but they claim that there are vulnerable people who have nowhere to go and who do not have the economic capacity.
“This accommodation that the City Council has been offering us for six months has been a blessing, it has allowed us to heal a lot of trauma. We have a place to go, but that is not the situation for everyone. We have been particularly attentive to the elderly who find themselves in a complicated situation when it comes to finding a rental; they are vulnerable people; others have had to leave Valencia or return to their parents,” warns Lysber.
Most of the families affected by the fire in Campanar who were living in the new building in the Safranar neighborhood left the property this Monday. There are 99 families (187 adults and 42 minors) who moved into this brand new building that the City Hall abandoned after the fire on February 22, which claimed the lives of ten people and left a hundred families homeless, although some have left. rented other houses.
In the Safranar building there remained 41 families who, until this Monday, were gradually leaving their homes. However, five families requested an extension from the City Hall for different reasons, as they did not find alternative housing, paying of course the corresponding rent to the City Hall. Among the cases, that of an elderly pensioner or that of a Belarusian family without papers after their papers were burned in the fire. At the close of this edition, municipal sources had not confirmed the situation of these five family units and whether they would remain in their homes or if they had finally been evicted.
Valencia’s urban planning councilor, Juan Giner, thanked those affected by the Campanar fire this Monday for “the good condition” in which they left the apartments. “This will allow for a faster allocation to the new tenants on the list of plaintiffs of the City Council,” he said, recalling that there has been “comprehensive coordination and assistance for those affected by the fire, so that they can now benefit from the rental assistance provided by the Generalitat Valenciana, between 1,000 and 1,500 euros per month.”
