Govt earmarks temporary relocation site as Queen’s Hotel residents again spotlight concerns

Amid concerns over the lack of progress at the Queen’s Hotel, Minister for Housing Pat Orfila has confirmed that a temporary location in Engineer’s Lane has been identified for some of the residents.

Last year, close to 50 residents faced eviction from squalid conditions in the Queen’s Hotel and were set to be relocated to a cramped and overcrowded Sunrise Motel.

Residents had refused to leave the decrepit building for fear of living in worse conditions and highlighted their frustrations over an ordeal they said made them feel like second-class citizens.

Over three months after the relocation was announced, the residents began to air fresh concerns that the promises made to them at the time had been so far left unfulfilled.

Late last year, after the relocation was paused, the Government said the Queen’s Hotel would undergo a refurbishment to improve the standard of living for its occupants during this transition period.

But the residents said that, in the months since this statement, there has been no improvement to their living standards.

On Monday evening frustrated residents of the Queen’s Hotel and some from the Sunrise Motel voted, by majority, to name Youssef Choati el Alcha as their representative.

Moments after the vote, Mr Choati el Alcha accompanied the Chronicle through the decaying building with a flashlight in hand due to the limited number of working light bulbs.

Room by room, the deterioration of the building was visible with broken lifts, barely lit rooms, and bathrooms that were not in functioning order.

The 50 residents share a kitchen with broken appliances and only two working hobs to cook their food.

An area of the building is closed off after a fire and, between the burnt walls and exposed cables, there are mounds of rubbish.

Walk into another room, and one resident’s bedroom was filled with cold January air as there is no glass pane in the ensuite bathroom window.

The residents say they just want to live in better conditions.

In response, Ms Orfila has said work to improve the site is imminent.

She also confirmed that a location has been found in Engineer’s Lane which would house 30 residents, while the remainder would move to the Sunrise Motel.

Ms Orfila estimated that the temporary housing in Engineer’s Lane will be ready for the residents within the next three to four months.

She added that a building permit for an extension to the Sunrise Motel is underway and it is expected the works will be completed in 18 months' time.

In the meantime, while the Engineer Lane property is made ready, she said there will be repairs to the Queen’s Hotel to improve the living standard.

The Queen’s Hotel needs to be vacated to be handed over to a developer which plans to demolish the space for the luxury mixed-use Queen's Gate development, advertised as ‘a Casemates for the south’ with residential flats and a rooftop pool.

Central to the matter is that Queen’s Hotel residents, mostly of Moroccan descent, have felt abandoned by successive Governments, having been brought to Gibraltar with the promise of work and then shifted from hostel to hostel.

Now the men, in their later years, want a place to stay with some privacy rather than in cramped shared rooms in hostel accommodation.

Mr Choati el Alcha said the men felt like they have been lied to after earlier promises to repair the building failed to materialise.

He pointed to the lack of works in the Sunrise Motel for the extension and that the Queen’s Hotel lifts remain in disrepair.

“The men see themselves as used tissues, who are now being thrown away and evicted,” he said.

“Now that they are no longer useful, they are being told to return to their country.”

He added that after the vote by some of the residents, he will be representing their interests.

Mr Choati el Alcha said the men want to sit down with the Government, discuss the issues and find a solution for all sides.

Action for Housing has also contacted the Government over the Queen’s Hotel to press the issue.