Venezuelan Housing Movements Celebrate Habitat Day, Demand Action Against Evictions

Caracas, October 10, 2024 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan grassroots movements took to the streets on Tuesday to defend the right to housing.

Hundreds of activists gathered in Caracas to celebrate World Habitat Day, take stock of the advances achieved under the Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro governments, and demand answers against a growing number of evictions.

The demonstration was coordinated by the Pobladores Movement, an umbrella organization that brings together grassroots collectives centered on housing and habitat, including tenants’ and building occupiers’ movements. It gathered organizers from the capital region as well as several other Venezuelan states.

The United Nations established the first Monday of October as World Habitat Day to call for reflection on the current state of urbanization and draw attention to people’s right to dignified shelter. It was first celebrated in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1986.

“We mobilized to commemorate World Habitat Day, which we also call World Homeless Day, and to denounce a worrying increase in arbitrary evictions,” activist Diana Castellano told Venezuelanalysis. 

She stressed that tenants and occupiers often face intimidation even though they are protected by Venezuelan legislation. Additionally, there have been reported cases of criminalization of tenants as “invaders” so as to pressure them to leave their homes.

Castellano, a spokesperson from the Tenants’ Movement in Barquisimeto, Lara state, explained that security forces execute evictions while unaware of laws forbidding them and bypass regulatory institutions such as the Housing Superintendency (SUNAVI).

“There is an effort to turn civil cases into criminal ones in order to force people out of their homes and disregard the law,” she added, highlighting lobbying influence from homeowning moguls and real estate guilds. In the case of Barquisimeto, Castellano pointed to an effort to gentrify the city center by displacing working-class families.

“Our task as grassroots organizations is first of all to support vulnerable families facing these threats, as well as provide the necessary information to the people,” she said. “This way, they have the tools to respond to eviction attempts.”

In 2011, following the initiative of popular movements, the Chávez government pushed the Venezuelan National Assembly to approve legislation protecting tenant rights, limiting rent increases and preventing unjustified evictions.

Tuesday’s rally saw activists hold a popular assembly before going to the Attorney General’s Office where a commission from the Tenants’ Movement and the Occupiers’ Movement delivered a letter to Attorney General Tarek William Saab drawing attention to a number of eviction cases involving public prosecutors. The document called on Saab to take action in defense of the housing rights’ of poor families.

The demonstration made one final stop at the Interior Ministry for a workgroup meeting with the authorities.

The organizations present in Tuesday’s mobilization likewise reaffirmed their support for the Venezuelan government and President Maduro, who secured reelection in the July 28 presidential contest.

The struggle to decommodify housing has been ever-present during the 25 years of the Bolivarian Process, with grassroots initiatives often backed by authorities and leading to progressive legislation.

Former President Hugo Chávez launched the Great Housing Mission (GMVV) in 2011 to ensure access to dignified housing for working-class families. In June, the mission hit the milestone of five million homes provided. Popular movements have called for greater state support for community-led self-construction projects under the GMVV.