Renters’ unions on the rise in Greece

As the average tenant spends over a third of his or her monthly income to cover housing costs, renters' unions, organizations which are common elsewhere in Europe, are starting to gain ground in Greece too.

"In any conversation, if you want to break the ice, you start by either talking about the weather or about rent. Especially with the latter, everyone can relate to it," says Vasilis Delis, a founding member of the Xespitogatos ("Evicted cat") Facebook group.

Over the past few years, he has been party to plenty of conversations, online and in real life, over the difficulty of finding affordable and suitable housing.

A graduate of the National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government (EKDDA), Delis is involved in research on housing policy.

When the Xespitogatos group was formed online in 2021, 70% of posts involved queries over the rights...