No amount of teaching dedication or educational projects can compensate for the impact the housing crisis is having on students and their families. The housing insecurity that increasingly affects a large segment of the population diminishes our students' learning capacity, impacts their developmental progress, and jeopardizes the mental health of the entire family. In other words, the current housing system—regulated to treat homes as a commodity—is incompatible with the right to universal, inclusive, and quality education. What can we, as teachers, do in this context?

The Madrid Tenants' Union, together with teachers' unions and teachers' assemblies, and in collaboration with el Círculo de Bellas Artes The Housing Protocol for Educational Centers: An educational and union tool to address the realities we face in classrooms every day. During the presentation, we will speak with various members of the educational community who are implementing it.

Schools can become safe spaces, sources of information and support for families experiencing housing insecurity. The common experiences of isolation, helplessness, guilt, and shame often result in a failure to confront the problem, and schools may only become aware of the situation by the time it is too late. However, teachers can be a key link in transforming these experiences into empowering processes that collectively address the issue, promoting safety and providing the tools to defend the right to housing.

This protocol provides guidelines for supporting students and families, both emotionally and in taking the initial steps to address current housing challenges. It also proposes steps for collaboration between each school and the Tenants' Union, enabling families to begin advocating for their right to housing. Establishing "Housing Points" in each school is essential for families and staff to retain their homes and for us, as education professionals, to take a stand against real estate speculation that is eroding the right to education.