It has been a few months since the first 115 residents of the neighborhood of Our Lady of La Candelaria, in Santa Cruz, they began to enter their new homes, granted through the program to promote urban regeneration and renovation of the 2013-2016 Plan, which began to be processed at the time when Ángela Mena (CC) was councilor of Houses in the City Hall of the capital.
Candelaria is one of these neighbors. This Thursday marks three months since he moved. It was one of the first. Since then, his life has completely changed. So much so that he is better from the depression that “I have suffered for a long time,” he confesses. And it is not for less, because “the house where he lived was falling apart.”
“I got really desperate. They waited many years and I thought that the moment would never come. My house was very run down. He lived on the top floor and had horrible humidity. I even dropped the electric water heater and I don’t know how I got out of the shower, with the cables that had come off. These were on the ground, burned. I even broke a pipe. The floors were so dilapidated that they couldn’t be fixed, ”she says excitedly.
Candelaria narrates that “they have been very hard years” and recalls that already in 2004 they met in the neighborhood association to deal with the poor condition of their houses. “It has been almost 18 years until we have been able to have our houses. It has not been easy, but in the end it has been worth it. Now I feel very comfortable. Sometimes I don’t even feel like going outside because of how good I am, ”he explains.
This neighbor has not returned to her old home because she feels homesick. “It makes me sad, but really for the memories. I spent my whole life there. He bought my mother, my sister and me. We grew up there and stayed all our lives. 65 years old ”, he remembers fondly.
Cristina is one of his sisters, who has also gone through the same situation. She has been living with her husband for just a month Ramon in his new apartment. They were given the keys on September 17th. “Moving was a necessity. The houses were very dilapidated. Many were propped up and even the baths were sinking. We fear for our lives, especially during the last storm, ”says this neighbor.
They tell DIARIO DE AVISOS that, although the deadlines were long delayed, they always felt supported. “The mayor gave us his word and he kept it.”
All three admit that it has been a great physical change, since they have gone from being in 11 housing blocks of 35 square meters with many deficiencies, to living in two 10-story towers, with 12 houses of 65 square meters each, with a living room , kitchen, utility room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. But it has also been an emotional change. And it is that now they smile and are calm. Cristina says that she is happier and her husband points out that they have even gained a few kilos. “We still lack things, because there are many expenses. We brought little, since we had everything very destroyed and we could not buy anything in case we did not fit here ”, explains the couple. The rest of the neighbors continue to enter little by little, but they all agree that they have gone “from hell to heaven.”
