Anti-eviction action in Viktoria Square, Athens. Source: Viktoria Solidairty EVICTIONS With regard to official housing available to refugees and asylum seekers in Greece – external to camp structures – options have been increasingly limited. Resultantly, a heightened sense of social isolation and disenfranchisement of those seeking to stay in Greece has ensued. Shifts in policies, in fact, have intensified long-standing inequalities, putting many at high risk of eviction and consequent legal difficulties. On the 15th of July 2020, the control over the ESTIA program relating to accommodation of asylum seekers was handed over from the UNHCR to the MMA, starting with the transition of 12,000 places (nearly half the entire project) on the 1st of September 2020. The ministry announced in late November 2021 that the program had been fully implemented with the support of 14 municipalities, in collaboration with 11 Greek and international NGOs. Under the new jurisdiction of the MMA a previously unknown NGO “Hopeland” (the name was later changed to “Hopeten”) – with no prior experience providing support for asylum seekers and refugees –became a key implementing partner for the Greek government on the accommodation of asylum seekers. An investigation later conducted by Solomon and Reporters United revealed several worrying issues regarding the competency of the NGO, and close relationships with several real estate companies/foreign investment firms. These issues have since become a matter of parliamentary inquiry, and 28 deputies of SYRIZA have submitted questions on the matter to the Minister for Migration and Asylum. In December 2021, journalists from Solomon and Reporters United received a pre-litigation legal threat from Hopeten after having sent follow-up questions pertaining to ongoing investigations into the NGO’s involvement in ESTIA programs. The threat from Hopeten described the investigation as “unethical, biased and in bad faith”, demanding that Solomon and Reporters United “immediately refrain from any action that could damage the NGO’s prestige and reputation.” The International Press Institute (IPI) described this legal pursuit from Hopeten “as a clear attempt to silence the two media’s public interest investigative reporting” and referred to the incident as “another example of the suffocating legal pressure used against the country’s few independent media.” Aside from issues of freedom of press, this episode stands as an example of the Greek government’s mismanagement of issues relating to asylum and migration, whereby private and state interests take precedence over the lives of those seeking asylum in Greece. The transition to increased involvement of the Ministry for Migration and Asylum in the housing of asylum seekers was coupled with changes in policies decreasing the amount of time asylum seekers could stay in official accommodation and receive cash assistance following a decision on their asylum claim – initially within six months, and later agridged to one month in July, 2021. In practice, this left many people with few options, little time to jump through all of the administrative hurdles necessary to obtain documentation (i.e. tax numbers, health insurance, etc) necessary to live and work in Greece, and little to no support for vulnerable groups. 11