Before moving from Athens to Mykonos last September the philologist Maria Moshowow he started looking for a house. He searched with brokers, he searched the Internet, he searched, but found nothing. After all, it was still high season on the Isle of the Winds. At some point, he wrote an ad on Facebook and found his first home through a friend of an acquaintance.

It was a container in Kluvas, a village between Chora and Ano Mera. The kitchen was shared – “some kid had a haircut there, and she often had hair,” says “K”. There was a dump 50 meters from the house. “Everyone told me to take whatever you find in front of you,” says Ms. Moskhova, “but the conditions were bad, I didn’t feel safe there.” Soon he started looking again.

“I went door to door asking butchers, stalls, greengrocers,” he says, looking for someone to rent the house. The method worked, and in October she moved into a house in Argirain — “very close to the school,” says Ms Mosovu. The agreement with the hostess was that she would stay in the house until May, when exactly in May, it was not clear – “there are no agreements”, explains “K”, “if there are contracts, you can’t find a house.” “She kept her word to me,” she says of her landlady, “and fired me on May 12—some of their colleagues had been fired since April 10.”

OUR school seasonhowever ends June 30th. Giorgos Rousunelos, President of the Mykonos Municipal Council, and the Municipal Education Committee helped her find a third home. She is now living with two other colleagues in Ano Mera until 30 June. “This has definitely created a lot of insecurity for us all this time, not only because of the need to find a home, but also because of the problem it creates for the school – if I hadn’t found a home, we would be talking about distance learning in the middle of exams,” – Mrs. Moshevova emphasizes in “K”. “But,” he notes, “the Mykonians want to go for the season.”

“Little Odyssey”

When the academic year is over, Ms. Moshowou will no longer declare IV of the Cyclades as a deputy. “I will pass this on to my colleagues, don’t go to the Cyclades,” he says. He points out that due to the problem the teachers in Mykonos are having, islands like Andros and Kythnos will also pay. “Other schools are unfortunately short on staff,” he stresses, but he can’t have a year like this again. “It was a little odyssey,” he tells K. “It can’t be that on an island with 200,000 beds there aren’t 200,” he emphasizes, “I get the impression that they are not interested in education.”

“If there are contracts, you can’t find a house” – “Until last year, we said that houses are expensive, this year we say that they simply do not exist.”

The placement problem has worsened this year, – says Mr. Rusunelos “K”.when the number of teachers left out was 25. Last year it was 15. Before the coronavirus, it was 2-3, he says. “The problem is growing, governments should encourage tenants who have houses in Mykonos to rent out to professors,” he says, stressing that it’s not just professors who need houses that are in demand by tourism. “They are also police officers, medical workers, firefighters, civil servants,” he adds. As for the teachers, “at the moment they are settling in,” he says. “Either they found the house through the municipality,” he stresses, “or the municipality paid for the houses and they live.” “We are trying to help them, we are trying to rent out houses for teachers to live in,” Mayor of Mykonos Konstantinos Koukas says. But the problem is not only in Mykonos.

IN Santorini, some teachers left without a home are accommodated until the end of the school year in the homes of colleagues. Others had fewer alternatives and were camping Ioannis Miliadis says, President of Primary School Teachers of Thira and the Islands. “Until last year, we said that houses are expensive, this year we say that there are simply no houses,” he emphasizes. According to him, some teachers are forced to rent hotel rooms at their own expense, while others have nothing to pay. “We had a colleague who stayed at the school for about 10 days in September, he didn’t have to pay for a hotel – third world conditions,” emphasizes Mr. Miliadis.

“Broken Agreements”

“As long as tourism is going well, we will have problems,” says Anti Patramani, president of the Association of Secondary Education Employees (ELME) of Thira, stressing that doctors and other government employees in Santorini also have housing problems. “Some had agreements before June 30, and these agreements were violated,” he notes.

“The population of the islands is growing, and this is not a problem that will last 1-2 years, it will remain,” says Mr. Miliadis. He adds that they have proposed solutions, such as providing rooms from large hotel complexes for 1-2 months, for which teachers will provide some financial compensation and perhaps the state will give hoteliers incentives in the form of tax exemptions or the construction of social housing. in municipal areas.

Mr. Koukas, Mayor of Mykonos, says Mykonos was the first island to have a municipal hostel operating since 2018, providing teachers with free housing, subject to certain criteria. But it is clear that the problem persists, and not only in the Cyclades.

“There is also a problem with Heraklion and everywhere CreteThis is a national issue, Arethi Spahi says, President of ELME Heraklion Crete. He notes that due to tourism, as well as students meeting their housing needs too early, rents are either unaffordable or too expensive for teachers, especially new low-wage employees. “Local colleagues serve teachers who come from other regions,” says Ms. Spahi. “It is necessary,” he emphasizes, “to give space to the newly appointed—the problem of survival is very great.”

“Two Things Must Be Done”

“He has no houses, only things” – says Grigoris Tasios “K”., president of the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers and New Democracy parliamentary candidate in the May 21 elections. “At the moment, there is a problem with houses that are not only searched for by teachers, but also by various other government employees,” he notes. In his opinion, the biggest problem is that short-term rentals are not regulated. “As a result,” he notes, “most people are looking for easy money from May to October, when a teacher or government employee needs a house for 12 months.” According to him, two things must be done to improve the situation. “Firstly, to put in place an operating framework for short-term leases, which the government has promised for the next term,” emphasizes Mr. Tassios. The second concerns the country’s local territorial plans – “let’s look at the settlements, that is, so that we have specific conditions and standards for permanent residence,” he says. Regarding the provision of hotel rooms for some money to teachers for 1-2 months, he says that this cannot be done. “Hoteliers cannot do this when they have contracts with travel agencies from 150 to 190 days,” he explains to “K”. “Hotels,” says Mr Tasios, “are not meant for long stays, but for a few days.”

“Hands tied” at the ministry, without funds and institutional framework

Ministry of Educationsuch as – a high-ranking leader told K yesterday of, is working to complement efforts to find year-round housing for teachers who are housed in school units in tourist areas, as the burden falls on local government. Characteristically, since the problem begins to manifest itself at the beginning of the school year, the educational administrative mechanism informs the municipalities of the needs based on the number of appointments and enrollments in each region, but has neither the organizational base nor the funds. provide housing for kindergarten teachers, educators and teachers.

At the same time, in previous years, the general secretary of the Ministry of Education, Alexandros Koptsis, communicated at the beginning of the academic year with the municipalities of the islands where the problem arose, in order to find a solution, since the problem is two aspects for the Ministry of Education.

The first relates to the residence of teachers who have agreed to work on the island, and the second to the refusal, which often happens, of teachers to accept work on the islands, especially if they know that the rent is very high. This works like a domino as the ministry is forced to fill vacancies at a later stage.

Of course, the possibility of intervention by the Ministry of Education, under the current legal framework, is even more limited in the case where the owners require that the lease on the houses expire before the end of the school year.

The educational administrative mechanism informs the municipalities of the needs depending on the number of appointments and sets in each region.

For their part, educational federations are even asking to legally ensure the stay of teachers from the island regions, even when renting the required number of tourist places.

The problem is wider for the government. “This is a problem that concerns not only teachers, but also doctors, possibly other specialties in their respective fields,” government spokesman Yannis Oikonomou said on September 12, 2022, adding that “we must find ways to solve this problem, in conjunction with local communities and local government, perhaps also within the framework of housing policy, perhaps also with other ways and initiatives to be taken.”

The Prime Minister has developed an incentive package for government employees – teachers, doctors, security forces – to remain on the islands, the financial implications of which are expected to be assessed by the State’s General Accounting Office.

Incentives for teachers and health professionals, who are under the greatest burden due to the importance of their function, are aimed at financial support, improvement of living and working conditions and strengthening of their professional profile.