Reporting from Greece

Abstract

Greece is now at the forefront of a new housing crisis because the mechanisms of housing acquisition through the market are no longer functioning. This has been exacerbated by austerity measures put in place after the last crisis, in 2008. There are three main problems in this moment: large numbers of indebted people who are in danger of losing their homes, the increasing cost of rents because of the spread of Airbnb, and the lack of policies for social housing. The movement for the right to housing has been fighting for the last six years to protect indebted families from losing their houses through auctions that are taking place every week. Over the last two years, the movement has increasingly fought against Airbnb’s control of the rental market and for the protection of the tenants’ rights. We have also put on the agenda the need to repurpose the thousands of empty buildings that exist in Greece for social housing.