El Vacie Faces Its Last Year: The City Council Will Relocate 36 Families Before May 2027

The City Council of Seville remains committed to eradicating the shanty town of El Vacie before the municipal elections in May 2027. There are 36 families left to relocate, spread between inadequate housing and prefabricated homes.

The shanty town of El Vacie has its days numbered. The City Council of Seville has confirmed that it is sticking to the planned schedule to eradicate the settlement, the oldest in Spain still inhabited, before the municipal elections in May 2027. Currently, 36 families continue to live in the area, distributed across 26 inadequate homes and 10 prefabricated houses.

Municipal sources have stated that the relocation plan, which began in January 2024, is entering its final phase. To date, 31 relocations have been completed, and another eight cases are in processing. The goal is for no family to remain in the settlement when the local elections arrive.

Social Reinforcement and Administrative Coordination

To ensure the success of the process, the City Council has launched a specific device. A contract of €1,676,400 has been allocated for a support programme, with 12 technicians and two coordinators working directly with the families already relocated and those pending transfer.

Additionally, the coordination table made up of Emvisesa, the Urban Planning Management, and the Housing and Rehabilitation Agency of Andalusia (AVRA) has been reactivated. The aim is to expedite the availability of housing and accelerate the transfers. The service modules within the settlement, which remained closed during the previous term, have reopened to facilitate direct intervention.

The difference from previous attempts, according to the City Council, is the follow-up after relocation. Families are not left alone: municipal teams accompany them during their integration into the new neighbourhoods, promoting coexistence and preventing a return to shantytown living.

A Century of Social Exclusion

El Vacie is not just any settlement. Its origins date back to the 1930s, when the economic crisis and the arrival of resource-less populations to Seville led to the first shanties near the San Fernando cemetery and Mercasevilla. Since then, the settlement has been home to generations of families, mostly of Roma ethnicity, who have lived in conditions of structural poverty, without basic services and facing severe unemployment and school failure.

Eradication has been an aspiration of all municipal governments, of different political stripes, since the late 20th century. Plans for relocation and social integration have been implemented, with varying results. At times, some relocated families returned to the settlement. Now, the City Council hopes that continued support will prevent this rebound effect.

For the residents of the San Jerónimo and Pino Montano neighbourhoods, where El Vacie is located, the end of the settlement will mean a significant change in the urban landscape and in the perception of security in the area. The disappearance of inadequate housing and the integration of families into standardised homes is a step towards social cohesion in the city.

The process, however, is not without challenges. There are still 36 families to be relocated, and each requires an individualised plan. The City Council is confident that the current pace will allow them to meet the deadline. Meanwhile, technicians continue to work on the ground, in the reopened modules, so that the last year of El Vacie will also be the beginning of a new life for its inhabitants.