Kategoria: English

During a recent interview with German radio with a member of KOL, the journalist assumed that tenants whose houses are privatized get replacement housing.  The answer to this may have not been clear. Given the fact that foreigners may assume the city gives replacement housing to such tenants, a clarification should be made.

When a house is privatized, usually by being given to an heir to a former owner or somebody who has purchased the claim, (or come by it by fraudulent means), the lease is transferred and the city no longer considers itself a party in the matter.  This means, if a tenant wants to get into municipal housing, s/he must reapply – even if s/he has been a municipal tenant for decades. (więcej…)

The folks from ZSP  decided to take direct action against a property speculator which is trying to evict a family. KOL and other tenants activists blocked her eviction, but the speculator was still pushing and another eviction attempt was scheduled. The members of ZSP, together with the affected and a couple of others decided to picket her restaurants. After that, the speculator backed off.

On June 1 we made a solidarity action with the tenants of a privatized building on Stanislawa Augustowa St. in Warsaw. The thuggish new owner had given tenants until the 1st to vacate the building, threatening to evict them after that. All of the tenants, who are members of KOL, stood in solidarity together.

We all went to the building to show the owner that we will block any attempts he makes against these tenants. We are also fighting this privatization in various legal ways.

The thuggish owner drove by several times, but didn’t do anything.

Tenants interrupted the local council meeting and demanded a vote on dismissing Katarzyna Legewicz who was appointed vice-mayor of the area, without any vote. (The people in charge of the neighbourhood were appointed by the President of Warsaw.) Some councilpeople supported this appeal but the neoliberals and leftists didn’t want to vote. Tenants are gathering signatures to force this issue to a vote. Legewicz is known for her particularly arrogant and awful treatment of tenants and being an architect of brutal gentrification polices.

A film of the protest is here: https://lokatorzy.fediblog.pl/protest-lokatorow-za-odwolaniem-wiceburmistrz-pragi-polnoc-katarzyny-legiewicz/

The Tenants Defense Committee has submitted a negative opinion on proposed ammendments to the Act on the Protection of Tenants’ Rights. The opinion was sent to the Ministry of Transport, Building and Maritime Economy, responsible for this bill, and to members of the government, the press and various organizations.

It should be noted that many of the points in the draft bill were copied from a draft bill promoted by the Ministry of the Economy 2 years ago, which we also criticized. As a result, these criticisms were discussed in the Parliament and eventually the bill was dropped.  Now many of the same attacks on tenants rights are being planned again. (więcej…)

Polish law requires that before certain draft bills are sent to the Parliament, they have to be „consulted” with the appropriate organizations. By „consulted”, that usually means that you send your opinion. If it is different than what the government wants to achieve, they usually ignore it.

These „consultations” often involve entities with completely conflicting interests. In reference to this specific bill, 40 organizations were sent the draft. Of these 40 organizations, only the Tenants Defense Committee was an authentic tenants organization! (więcej…)

The Tenants Defense Committee is taking action in the case of a poor family which the city has ordered out of its house. It is starting eviction proceedings because of the family’s debt. Unfortunately, the city was one of the main contributor’s to this family’s hopeless situation.

The current living conditions of the family is nothing less than tragic. There are 8 people in two rooms, with around 36 meters of living space in total. Two generations live there. Two of the members of the family have cancer. When the older mother came to us, she could hardly walk or breathe. She had a tracheotomy and breathes through a tube and has quite serious cancer. Her son is an invalid. There are also two small children in the household who are seriously ill.  The income of the entire household is scandalously low, consisting mostly of retirement and disability payments of slightly over 100 euros per month and some occasional work by others. (więcej…)

Among the common complaints we hear is that public housing and local government officials give incorrect information to families, often causing them serious problems. The following story is, unfortunately, all too typical. (więcej…)

Join us on June 8 at 17:00 on Rondo De Gaulle.

During the Euro 2012 in Warsaw, the Tenants Defense Committee welcomes foreign visitors to take the Euro Reality Tour of the Praga district, near the National Stadium.

We will take you to see historic buildings and sites in Praga and also see parts of the neighbourhood which are under threat due to gentrification, real estate speculation and plans related to the Euro. During the construction of the Stadium, many people were displaced from their homes, nearby markets were destroyed and the character of the neighbourhood has changed. On this tour you will get to see a piece of old Praga, which was not destroyed during the war – before it is destroyed by greed and indifference. (więcej…)