Azill in Germany? Spain offers work and housing for families with children

It plans to offer children's families a job and rent housing for 50 euros a month in exchange for moving to Portland, a village in eastern Spain.

“We met with the school board in January, before the second semester began and had 7 students in total. The following year there would be only four, and there were two brothers and two sisters. Learning would be monotonous, more diversity must be”, says Mayor Alvaro Ferrer.

And he has received hundreds of reactions to his appeals, with people from all over Spain, and even from some Latin American countries like Argentina and Colombia. But since the town has only seven jobs and three accommodation facilities to offer, the mayor has asked interested ones to submit applications for review.

The selected students were questioned by the school board last week. On April 4th, the village of Portwell announced that 10 families could be placed in the village at the end of the school year and four young children would start teaching next year.

Erica Ventouria is one of the young residents of Portelli, with her husband and their two daughters. She relates that she had read the offer when she was unemployed. “We've been through difficult times and we're exhausted from this new option”, Erica says.

Speaking of chosen families, Ferrer says they would be solutions if they decided to stay in Portland. However, he says he has preserved the other candidates' records, unless it functions with selected families.

Castelon's province, including Portland, suffers from depopulation. According to regional data, 86% of its municipalities have fewer than 5 thousand inhabitants and 19 of them, fewer than 100 residents.