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Utilities cut to occupied residential hotel in Czech town

01 February 2013
9 minute read

The situation of the very poorest people living at the residential hotel on Čelakovského street in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem remains critical. The CPI Byty company, which owns the building in the Krásné Březno quarter, has ended its contract with the business leasing it. This morning an extended deadline by which the people living in the building were to move out expired with people still in the building – not just the occupants themselves, but also activists from the Housing for All initiative (Iniciativa Bydlení pro všechny) who came to help them. In a press release, the town of Ústí has stated that the families got themselves into this bad situation through their own actions.

"This morning the heat and water were disconnected. For the time being we are inside the residential hotel. Some people have gone outside to speak with about 30 journalists," Miroslav Brož of the Konexe association described the situation at the residential hotel. 

Technicians with North Bohemian Waterworks and Sewerage (Severočeské vodovody a kanalizací – SČVAK), the ČEZ electricity company and Ústí Municipal Heat Management (Tepelné hospodářství města Ústí – THMÚ) were at the site around 8 AM. After 9 AM a representative of the CPI Byty company, which owns the building, arrived. The technicians began disconnecting delivery of energy and water to the residential hotel in his presence.

"I warn you that by doing this you are disturbing what has so far been a rather calm situation, and that you are doing so without a court order. We are asking for an extension of the deadline and for more time so this critical situation can be resolved. By doing this you are only making it worse," a representative of the families living in the residential hotel, Ivana Čonková, told the THMÚ technician who wanted to access controls to the heating. Čonková blocked access to the controls by standing on the duct cover.

"This is not about the adults, there are children here. Some of them have the flu," one occupant of the residential hotel said when she heard the electricity and heat were to be disconnected. A male activist also sat on the cover of the duct and would not let technicians access it.

According to Miroslav Brož, municipal and state police officers are continually monitoring the situation around the residential hotel. "I also see the private security agency that CPI Byty has hired here," Brož said. "For the time being nothing is happening, everyone is just waiting to see what will happen next," he said just before 10 AM.

Ústí Police Chief Vladimír Danyluk is also supervising the situation. "We have agreed with the CPI company that they will give us time until this evening," Brož told news server Romea.cz.

CPI Byty has explained why it was necessary to disconnect the power. "Yesterday the lease arrangement with the operator ended, which means we have also ended our contracts with the power supplier. We must prevent further consumption," explained CPI Byty spokesperson Michaela Winklerová. "We don’t have a chance of getting inside because there is a certain risk of conflict," she said, referencing the fact that activists were preventing access to the residential hotel even for journalists. "We have asked the police for help, but the police are refusing assistance for the time being," Winklerová said, adding that CPI Byty does not want the situation to be resolved through the use of force. "We would like to get inside, it would be best to reach an agreement with these people, determine their identities. Then we will continue to take legal steps."

"The police definitely will not intervene. For the time being everything is calm, so there is no reason to," said Ústí Police spokesperson Valerie Bartošová, adding that the police officers were only there to maintain the peace.

FOTOGALERIE


FOTO: Vasil Kostin

Activists want to negotiate with town leadership

A female activist informed journalists this morning of their intention to initiate a meeting at the town hall. "We don’t want to exacerbate this situation, but because it is a crisis, we have asked Deputy Mayor Zuzana Kailová for a meeting at the town hall," Iveta Čonková told the press.

Just after 12:30 the activists and the occupants divided into two groups. One group went to look at other apartments described as available for rent. The other group of activists and occupants went to the Ústí nad Labem town hall to call on the town to take responsibility for the abandoned residential hotel tenants.

Some of the residential hotel tenants moved there from a damaged building on Beneše Lounského street in the Předlice quarter after structural engineers condemned the building. The owner of that property did not provide any of the tenants with substitute accommodation even though it was his responsibility to do so. In collaboration with the town, the families then managed to relocate to the residential hotel in the Krásné Březno quarter.

Municipal police refused to permit the activists and residential hotel occupants into the town hall because its office hours were over. "The town of Ústí nad Labem is aware of the seriousness of the situation of the families in the residential hotel in Krásné Březno who are remaining there despite the decision of the owner to close it," said Deputy Mayor Zuzana Kailová in a statement made to the activists gathered in front of the town hall. "However, the families from the devastated building on Beneše Lounského street got into this situation predominantly through their own actions. In cooperation with nonprofit organizations, they have been offered assistance from the beginning, including information about several dozen available apartments, residential hotels, and offers from social services providers. The accommodation they have been offered is superior to the accommodation they occupied in the destroyed building on Beneše Lounského street. The families have rejected these offers and only some of them have actively sought assistance."

According to Kailová, some of the families are under the influence of activists who are erroneously informing them that the town is supposed to resolve their situation. In the town’s view, it has done everything the law requires.

"Where do you think we are supposed to take our children?" responded Iveta Jaslová, who moved from Předlice to the residential hotel with six children.

"Contact the nonprofits. They have drawn up a list of residential hotels for you, they will accompany you to see them and you will be able to choose one," Kailová answered.

"The Ústí town hall, even after power and water has been shut off to a residential hotel full of people, is still refusing to resolve this situation. The list of apartments it is offering as its alibi is just a publicity stunt. The apartments on that list would not resolve the families’ situations for various reasons – either the ownership of the real estate is unclear, the rents are too high, or they are unhygienic. On the contrary, those options would worsen these families’ situations. Unfortunately, the town hall is not seeking a realistic solution and is ignoring calls for negotiation," Housing for All activists said in a statement.

Since 14:00, when both groups returned to the residential hotel, activists have been consulting with the occupants of the residential hotel to agree on what to do next. In the meantime, more people are arriving at the residential hotel to support the occupants. "Romani people from Krupka and Nový Bor have arrived," Miroslav Brož told news server Romea.cz . "There will be an improvised hip-hop concert in front of the residential hotel," he announced at 2:30.

Housing for All: The town has a responsibility to its citizens. We seek reconciliation.

"The town has an obligation to its citizens when private landlords fail them. We are asking for a solution that does not mean the situation deteriorates further. We want a solution that will not result in these families being broken up or exposed to harm by those who make money on poverty," said activist Lenka Novotná in a press release issued by the initiative.

The activists are also calling on representatives of CPI Byty to reinstate delivery of energy and water to the residential hotel. The company, however, has refused, saying it would be impossible to do so now, as a revised evaluation of the building would be necessary. CPI Byty already has one such evaluation stating that the building is not fit for use in its current state. "Those are [the utilities’] terms and we cannot manage to meet those terms at this moment," stated Winklerová.

CPI Byty has said it is not yet intending to intervene against the people remaining at the residential hotel. The firm previously explained its closure of the building by saying that "the hygienic and technical state of the facility is radically deteriorating and, according to expert evaluations, endangers the lives of those accommodated there." However, the activists all agree with the assumption that CPI Byty has ended its contract with the residential hotel operator because Romani people from Předlice have moved to the property. It is the ending of that lease that makes it possible for CPI Byty to close the residential hotel irrespective of whether the tenants have somewhere else to go or not.

Residential hotel occupant: The apartments they offered us were shocking

Most of the occupants of the residential hotel have already found new accommodation on their own, as they have known for two months that the residential hotel would be closing. The organization People in Need (Člověk v tísni) reportedly did its best to help the others. "Some of the families unfortunately repeatedly rejected the apartments found for them without giving a reason," the organization stated in a press release issued yesterday.

One residential hotel occupant disagrees with that statement. "Those apartments were shocking. We don’t want anything more than to extend our contract with the residential hotel for a month or two. We’re not looking for people to commiserate with us, but how can someone turn off children’s heat and water?" she asked this morning in front of the residential hotel.

According to Mayor Vít Mandík, the town hall has also offered apartments to the people concerned. "The town offered them, for example, newly reconstructed apartments on U Jeslí street, but they rejected everything," Mandík told news server iDNES.cz. The residential hotel occupants, however, insist that no one from the town has offered them anything.

Concert in support of the evictees

This evening at 19:00 a concert in support of the evicted families will take place at the Exil (Exile) club in Ústí (www.exil.cc). People from the residential hotel will also be there. All donations will be used to benefit the evictees. The concert is organized by the Housing for All initiative.

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