Excerpts:
"I've been living here for 21 years. Nothing has improved here during that time. People in the countryside have better conditions than we do here. There is no hot water, the toilets are shared in the corridors – one for every six flats. On top of that, there are bedbugs and bugs. Officials treat these flats as if they were for the worst people, but not everyone here is from evictions. I have social housing. Even the administration recently told me: ‘You shouldn't be living here,’ says an elderly woman. She lives in one of three notorious social housing blocks on 29 Listopada Street in Śródmieście.
– One of the blocks is already empty. They were supposed to move us out too, but they keep bringing in new tenants. Although there are also a lot of empty flats, says an elderly resident of the middle block at number 12, the unpainted one. ‘It's still relatively quiet here. But at 10 A, it's a nightmare. Fights, drug addicts, the worst kind of people. The police come very often,’ she describes.
I ask my interlocutor what it is like to live in the 21st century in the centre of Warsaw without hot water, without bathrooms, with shared toilets in the corridor? ‘I heat water in pots every day,’ she says. She adds that, in theory, the toilets should be cleaned by the tenants. But that's not always the case. She leads me to the toilet at the other end of the corridor. The door is broken, the floor is sticky, and the walls are peeling.
A 70-year-old man has been living in this part of the block with his wife for two months. He looks much older. He says they were evicted here. The flat they occupy is 13 square metres in size. You walk through a small vestibule, which also serves as a kitchen. There is also a bucket toilet here. In the tiny room, there is a mattress on the floor. Beer cans are scattered on the floor. There is no electricity in the flat.
The man says he is ill. He used to be a baker. He and his wife live solely on his pension – 1,200 zlotys. ‘I told the administration that they wouldn't pay 500 zlotys for this hovel. They reduced my rent to 400 zlotys,’ says the man. "This is vegetating. It's time to die.
How are they living without electricity for the second month? ‘A neighbour gave us a lamp that runs on a power bank,’ he says. Another neighbour gave them an old desk. This desk, a mattress and a single chair are all the family owns. ‘It's not worth talking about,’ the man waves his hand.
Most of the residents I spoke to seem to be unable to cope with life, requiring assistance in their daily lives, and some have alcohol problems. Some have been living in the blocks for years, others only recently. There are those who work, but, as I hear in the estate, there are also many who have never worked.
"In terms of order and hygiene and sanitary conditions, a lot also depends on the residents of social housing, who are obliged to keep them in proper condition and protect the common areas of the building from damage or vandalism. Unfortunately, not all tenants fulfil these obligations, and there have been frequent cases of vandalism, theft and intervention by the uniformed services for this reason. An additional problem in the case of the buildings on 29 Listopada Street is the unauthorised occupation of some premises and very high rent arrears, even despite the rate of PLN 2 per square metre for social housing. The above factors probably influence the attitude of some tenants towards the common areas of the property," wrote the spokesperson in an email to the editorial office.
Regarding the lack of electricity in the premises, he replied that tenants should individually conclude a contract with the energy company. The City Centre Property Management Company only provides energy in the common areas.
Full article here: https://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/7,54420,32148631,slumsy-przy-lazienkach-krolewskich-i-luksusowym-apartamentowcu.html
Foto: Wojciech Karpieszuk
by opolsce
20 comments
In case that was unclear: The photo shows a shared, common area toilet. The article doesn’t show the inside of apartments.
And they laugh at Russians.
Ale że najjaśniej panujący czaskowski na to pozwala?? 🙈wyjebal 600 tys na kibel wychodzi ze nie na ten który powinien 😆 czego nie rozumiecie ci ludzie nie są dla prezynadenta ważni oni mają się wynieść albo umrzeć bo ta działka już się prosi o sprzedaż pod inwestycje…
I have been in a building in Wrocław that had shared toilets. They needed to have locks on for only those entitled to use the particular toilet.
Oczekują, że miasto przyjdzie im umyć kibel? Rączek nie mają? Sami najemcy doprowadzili łazienki do takiego stanu.
Miasto zapewniło im darmowe mieszkania, to mogą podłąć ten trud i je sobie wyremontować.
Those are people who were evicted for not paying rent. It is up to them to keep their surroundings clean.
Complaining that people living in villages have better conditions? Is someone forcing them to live in Warsaw?
“Some” have alcohol problems… Yeah, sure… Some alcohol, some drugs… Sum up to 90%? Like sorry, but this whole article is about people who don’t want to change their fate, but who will happily accept any kind of “help” funded by others.
Good memories of taking a shit in a toilet like this when I was a kid lol
The fact everyone here is just saying that the people living there only have themselves to blame for the conditions is sickening.
Social housing for people who cannot afford normal social housing or/and cause trouble. Probably all large cities have something like that.
Looks like average flat in the Netherlands. 1000 euro per month, utilities excluded.
Kiepskie życie kiepski świat
I, too, would become an alcoholic if this was my living situation
The people who wear Burkas, what type of housing does the government give them?
In London Britons live in worse conditions than invaders who come in boats and commit crimes.
ehhh klasyka, tak samo jak różne rodzinki nawet w “nasz nowy dom” polsatu – niby tam mają jakąś selekcję, że odsiewają największą patolę, ale co i rusz w którymś odcinku kolejna “*BIEDNA RODZINA*” żyje w jakimś domu czy mieszkaniu, gdzie wszystko jest **z-d-e-w-a-s-t-o-w-a-n-e**, a nie że żyją “skromnie za to bez wygód”.
To przecież widać jak na dłoni- co jest efektem biedy, a co jest po prostu zniszczone **przez niedbalstwo i niechlujstwo.** Tutaj tak samo – serio ktoś uwierzy w brednie gazwybu, że tam to same “schorowane potulne i biedne dziadki” mieszkają? Bo coś mam dziwne wrażenie, że to jest ten sam typ mieszkańców, co na słynnej Dudziarskiej.
I zaraz ktoś się oburzy, że “olaboga to tacy nie zasługujo na pomoc?!” – uporczywa terapia też jest zabroniona, jeśli ktoś nie chce pomocy, to nawet jakby ich ulokowali w tym apartamencie (który oczywiście jest w tym artykule nie bez powodu, typowy click/ragebait) i zapewnili darmowy wikt i opierunek, to go zajadą do poziomu tych slumsów…
Hell yeah, that’s how we roll.
Reminds me of my grandparents flat..
Mogli by przynajmniej użyć podróbki Domestosa z biedronki (nawet lepiej działa) raz na tydzień. /s
“People living in villages have better conditions” – typical Warsaw denizen, seeing province as embodiment of shit and poverty despite the fact that for the most part houses on the province aren’t any worse than those in cities.
Calm down. The coucil will renowate it… and then sell at very good price to a friend of some politician.
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