Podemos presented this Monday to the Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolaños, a document of proposals to address the damage caused by the DANA that has already left more than 200 dead in several municipalities in the province of Valencia. He did so at the meeting held by Bolaños with the secretary general of the purple party, Ione Belarra, who after that meeting publicly requested to declare a state of alarm and to implement a “social shield” for the people affected, which, among other measures, include the total cancellation of mortgages on homes that “have been rendered totally or partially uninhabitable” by the floods.
For rentals, on the other hand, it is proposed to paralyze for a few months the payment of installments, so that people who can not reside in their usual residence because of the DANA are not forced to pay that floor while they also face another temporary housing. In this case, the purple are considering making a distinction according to the landlord: “In the case of large landlords or legal entities with several properties, the landlords will be responsible for the foreclosure”, and “in all other cases, the State will be responsible for the cost of the foreclosure”. On the other hand, in all cases, the bank would be responsible for the losses due to the cancellation of mortgages.
The last of the housing measures is the only one that would require the implementation of the state of alarm and the assumption of all crisis management powers by the central government. Podemos proposes to intervene in the tourism sector of the Valencian Community “so that hotel vacancies, empty homes in the hands of large tenants and tourist homes are temporarily occupied by people who can not return to their homes or who lack them”.
In relation to the companies, the purple ones bet on two measures of very different nature. For small and medium-sized businesses “that have been forced to suspend their activity as a consequence of the catastrophe”, the following is also proposed the suspension of mortgage and loan payments. On the contrary, for the companies “that have made their workers attend work in times of alarm”, Podemos asks that there be “sanctions derived from the non-compliance
of the obligations in terms of Health and Safety at Work” and that they be excluded “from the aids previously foreseen”.
In addition, as was done during the Covid-19 pandemic with the price of face masks, the training calls for “to intervene on food prices in the affected areas. so that people can feed themselves adequately at affordable prices”. Along the same lines, Podemos proposes to “establish itinerant food banks to reach the areas with the most affected commercial premises and infrastructures”.
In order to guarantee at least a certain level of income to the citizens affected by the DANA, Podemos also proposed to Bolaños to set up a basic income with the same amount as the minimum wage.. “Given that the difficulty of finding gainful employment will increase significantly after the catastrophe, and taking into account that the economic damages are very extensive and heterogeneous in the area, the implementation of a universal basic income […] for all residents of the affected municipalities” would be “a quick and effective measure to prevent thousands of people from falling into poverty”.