Last week Mayor Veliaj visited the Pira family, one of the many affected by the redevelopment of the Outer Ring Road. The Piras were provided accommodation in a social housing unit as their house would be demolished. In his visit at their new shelter, Mayor Veliaj said:
This apartment is yours for as long as you want it. Do you want it for your whole life? You’ll have it for your whole life!
The Mayor’s statement is just part of his propaganda given that he has issued no administrative act regarding the housing and conditions applied to the Piras. During an interview, Benjamin Pira, the father, said:
At 10pm they told us “We will demolish your house tomorrow”, and that’s what happened. We just took with us clothes and house belongings. We accepted municipality’s social housing. We accepted thinking that otherwise we would end up in the street.
Following inhabitants’ protests, Mayor Veliaj stated that families with non-legalized houses would get a 3-year bonus rent support by the municipality. It was only after an article on Exit.al explained the procedure required by law that Mayor Veliaj started to talk about social housing and soft loans as alternatives for the affected families.
However, under the disguise of his careful media hype when calling on families to apply for these housing alternatives, Mayor Veliaj has kept violating the law and has continuously acted in non-transparent ways. The Mayor has not yet issued an official decision regarding social housing for these families, thus preventing citizens from their right to appeal the Municipality’s decision to the court.
As per the 2018 Law on Social Housing, the Municipality of Tirana is required to follow this procedure:
First, inhabitants should be informed in written form about the displacement and reasons that make such displacement obligatory. Such notice must be given 30 days before the official decision for the displacement. The said decision must foresee a minimum of 45 days’ time until the displacement day.
Second, the law stipulates that citizens have a right to information, and local authorities must inform them about all housing alternatives local authorities can offer, as well as the specific conditions applying in each alternative.
Third, once it has informed and offered the citizens to choose an alternative housing option, the Municipality must issue an administrative act regarding their displacement, at least 45 days before the actual displacement. In this official act the Municipality should also clarify the housing option it has approved.
Four, citizens have the right to appeal the municipality’s decision to the court.
In the meantime, the Municipality should have drawn a list of families affected by the Outer Ring Road project, and should have informed them about the housing options, conditions and criteria.
Another legal issue stemming from Veliaj’s statement is that of apartments’ ownership transfer. According to Zymbyle Pira, Mayor Veliaj promised they would be the owners of the apartment.
The Decision 343 of the Council of Ministers, dated 19.4.2017, states that procedures for privatization or ownership transfer of social housing units should start at the request of the interested subject. The subject should buy the apartment for the money value calculated by the Municipality, in accordance with procedures foreseen in this Decision.
Once the Municipality has accepted the request for privatization, the two parties should sign a contract of sale which should include:
- a) the signatory parties;
- b) the amount of money the beneficiary is expected to pay;
- c) the method the beneficiary will pay;
- ç) the method the seller will receive the money;
- d) the rights, obligations and sanctions for each party.
Hence, Mayor Veliaj cannot transfer apartments’ ownership without a prior request by families, before signing a contract, and without clarifying the amount of money and the way families will pay.
As stated in the interview, the Pira family has not presented such a request, thus the Mayor cannot start ownership transfer procedures.
The Municipality cannot just transfer the ownership of an apartment through a simple public statement by Mayor Veliaj.
The Piras concluded the interview by saying they had no idea what will happen to them.
