Queen’s residents say relocation to shared motel is going ‘from bad to worse’

Around 50 people living in squalid conditions in the Queen’s Hotel refused to be relocated to the Sunrise Motel on Friday morning as they feared overcrowding and even worse conditions.

Representatives of the residents, accompanied by Action for Housing and Unite the Union, visited the Sunrise Motel that morning and said the building is totally inadequate to house the men.

On Friday after waiting for hours in the main room of the Queen’s Hotel, the residents were informed they would be moved into shared rooms – including one with eight beds - and that the Sunrise Motel is in disrepair with leaky ceilings and cables exposed.

In response, they stayed put.

In their view, living in the Sunrise Motel with overcrowding would be worse than living in the decaying Queen’s Hotel.

Sat in the main room of the Queen’s Hotel with scant furniture, the men had spent hours waiting to hear their fate.

At 7.30am they began filtering in and congregating under the dim light of the only working lightbulb in the main room.

In the corner, a man slept on a sofa surrounded by his belongings. He is too elderly to get to his room in the upper floors of the hotel, and the lift has been broken for a long time but not fixed.

Women from the Moroccan community also joined in solidarity with the residents.

In conversation, the residents said they feel like they are being treated like animals, with no respect for their wishes or any decent standard of living.

Queen’s resident Ahmed Messaoudi said he just wants a room with a modicum of privacy.

Under the dim light and dressed for a day’s work, he said that at the very least he wants similar living conditions to the Queen’s, albeit in a better state.

This is a cycle he has lived in for over 30 years, first in Casemates where he lived for 10 years, then in Buena Vista hostel for 16 years, and then in Queen’s for eight years.

“Each move is from bad to worse,” he said.

“They brought us here [to the Queen’s], they told us we are going to live better than in Buena Vista and they have promised us that if we’re on the housing list that eventually we will get a house.”

Mr Messaoudi said he has been waiting for a Government house for 12 years.

“They made promises that they were going to give houses to us and they haven’t given a house to a single one of us,” he said.

Now, Mr Messaoudi said, the Housing Department will be moving them to even poorer conditions.

He had been told the Government has placed beds in the living room of the Sunrise Motel.

“There’s no privacy,” he said.

“Not even a wardrobe. We need a place to put our clothes, wash our clothes, hang our washing, cook our dinner and even then, there is no space in there to put these things.”

“Also, we haven’t even been consulted. No one came to speak to us.”

Mr Messaoudi said he has been on the housing list for close to 12 years but still has no home.

‘EIGHT TO A ROOM’

Representing the residents, Youssef Choati el Alcha said the men were disconcerted by the relocation as they had not been offered to tour the Sunrise Motel for themselves.

“You can’t have two people in a room, let alone eight people on a floor with no bath,” Mr Choati el Alcha said.

“The bath is broken, and they need to go to another floor to access a bath.”

Mr Choati el Alcha said it is inhumane.

He said the men pay tax, social insurance, and have worked all their lives.

Henry Pinna, founding member of Action for Housing, visited the Sunrise Motel alongside Unite’s Michael Netto and Mr Choati el Alcha.

Upon their return, they all agreed the Sunrise Motel was inadequate.

“In my own personal view, the place is not adequate,” Mr Pinna said.

“It would be unfair for the men who are going there and for the people who already live there.”

Mr Pinna said it is up to the residents whether they should relocate and, although the Sunrise Motel is cleaner, the overcrowding issue makes it a far worse alternative.

“The overcrowding is going to be acute,” Mr Pinna said.

(An image taken by Action for Housing of damage caused by a burst pipe at the Sunrise Motel.)

Mr Netto said the Sunrise Motel residents are already living in overcrowded conditions, but now extra beds would be placed in the rooms.

“Where there’s three beds, now there will be four beds,” Mr Netto said.

He added that to make space for these extra beds, furniture, and appliances such as fridges and tables have been moved.

“The basic hygiene and overcrowding of the place is intolerable,” Mr Netto said.

“You’ve got fire doors which are broken. You’ve got electrical problems, cables hanging from the ceiling, water dripping, nobody should live under those conditions.”

“It’s a safety hazard.”

Mr Netto called it a “shocking situation” where people will be living in worse conditions.

According to Mr Netto and Mr Pinna, there are 21 beds in the Sunrise Motel for the almost 50 Queen’s Hotel residents. The Government has told them that some of the residents do not live in Gibraltar.

(An image taken by Action for Housing of damage caused by a burst pipe at the Sunrise Motel.)

“The fact remains that they are entitled,” Mr Pinna said.

Mr Choati el Alcha said he had been told that if the residents left the Queen’s, they would not be allowed to return.

After the visit to the Sunrise Motel, he advised the residents to stay put.

Some had already left that morning for work not knowing if they would be able to return.

“It doesn’t feel like we are living in Gibraltar, this feels like a we are in a Third World county,” he said.

“It is so sad, what is happening and how people are scared and don’t know what will happen to them.”

‘SHORT EXTENSION’

In the hotel early Friday morning, members of the media, Opposition MPs and supporters waited alongside the men to see what would happen to them.

At around 10am though, security staff told everyone who was not a resident, including MPs and reporters, to leave the building.

Police officers watched on from outside, staying a few metres away.

But shortly after midday, it became clear that the men would not be forcibly removed.

The GJBS workers did not arrive to move their belongings and the police officers left.

A couple of hours later the Government issued a response and said “a short extension has been given for the relocation of individuals at the Queens Hotel”.

“The accommodation being provided at the Sunrise Motel is hostel accommodation, which is usually in dormitories, so more than one bed to a room is the norm,” a Government spokesman said.

The Minister for Housing, Pat Orfila, told the Chronicle the Sunrise Motel has more adequate living conditions than the Queen’s Hotel.

(An image provided by the Gibraltar Government showing beds lined up in the Sunrise Motel. )

She said the damage seen by the representatives was from a burst water pipe, which has been identified and will be fixed.

Ms Orfila said the Sunrise Motel is in better shape than Queen’s, and that several people living in one room is typical of hostel accommodation.

She said that residents have been sharing rooms in the Queen’s and that room sharing will be temporary in the Sunrise.

(An image provided by the Gibraltar Government of within the Sunrise Motel.)

She added that the Sunrise is “far better than anything” the residents have had before and that an extension to the building will be built and will have capacity for over 100 beds.

Ms Orfila could not confirm when works on that extension will be taking place, but she added that two residents of the Sunrise Motel were this week given Government flats.

POLITICAL REACTIONS

GSD MPs Craig Sacarello and Atrish Sanchez attended the Queen’s Hotel and spoke to the residents for hours on Friday morning, as did Together Gibraltar’s Nick Calamaro.

Outside the Queen’s, Mr Sacarello said this was a question of equity and, when displacing residents, the Government should ensure there is decent living accommodation.

“They are not asking for apartments, they are asking for a room at the end of the day,” Mr Sacarello said.

“This is all happening almost as an afterthought, the deal has been done and now they are looking at how they can manage this group of people.”

Mr Sacarello also took issue with an answer he received in Parliament, where he was told that only 12 people would be relocated.

“Clearly you can see there’s 40, maybe 50 people, needless to say there is a discrepancy there and it remains ambiguous at best.”

Mr Calamaro said he was very sad to see the events unfold on Friday and that the men need to be given enough dignity to have their own private space.

“From what we’ve heard from Action for Housing and Unite is that the situation is going to be even worse because you’re going to have four or five elderly men put in a single room where they don’t have space,” he said.

Mr Calamaro said this showed the “total lack of priority and care”.

“For these Gibraltarians, who have been here 40, 50 years, working, paying social insurance paying tax and it seems as though we don’t want to look after them and give them the basic that we all deserve.”