Greece prepares ban on migrant flats housing up to 30

Greek Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis said in an Oct. 15 SKAI television interview that Greece plans legislation to ban central Athens flats housing migrant groups of 20 to 30 people.

The plan targets an informal lodging trade where the highest cited occupancy, 30 people, is 50% above the 20-person lower bound, while the €30 top nightly charge is triple the €10 low, according to Atlas360 calculations.

Chrysochoidis said enforcement would focus on central Athens districts including Patissia and Agios Panteleimonas, where he said Greek property owners make flats available and intermediaries rent space to migrants. “We are introducing legislation to ban these rentals and sublets, and police operations will begin to throw them out, alongside measures to maintain security in public squares,” he said.

The minister also linked the housing measures to public-order enforcement. “Anyone who commits a crime and is not remanded in custody should leave Greece, even if they are subject to restrictive conditions,” he said, adding that detention facilities run by Greek police would be used for people awaiting deportation.

Chrysochoidis alleged that some foreign nationals in central Athens were involved in criminal activity. The supplied Protothema report did not include responses from property owners, migrants, tenants or legal representatives, and it did not set out the text of the proposed legislation.

The measures would add a policing and housing-enforcement component to Greece’s handling of migration pressures in parts of the capital. The reported proposal focuses on rental and subletting arrangements rather than formal reception facilities, according to the minister’s description.

In a separate measure, Chrysochoidis said legislation would be submitted within days to make telephone fraud a felony, with heavier penalties when victims are elderly people or minors. He said the provision would apply even when the amount involved is as little as €1.

Chrysochoidis said arrests linked to telephone scams occur frequently, describing homes allegedly used as call centres. “At some point, we will eliminate this phenomenon. You can be sure of that,” he said.