SecondEarlier this year, I found myself in the city of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat in the southwest. BarcelonaIt lacks the reputation and tourist crowd of the Catalan capital, but the two places are linked by the same terrible housing crisis.
Under the guidance of the grassroots tenant movement organizer Júlia Nueno, I discovered a community in L’Hospitalet. They held meetings in a public park but managed to take responsibility for what the authorities failed to do: roofing people.Their challenge is daunting Spain It still bears the scars of the 2008 economic crisis and is still under the control of the Covid pandemic.
L’Hospitalet de Llobregat is the second largest city in Catalonia and one of the most densely populated cities in Catalonia. EuropeIn the past six years, it has been close to Barcelona and has attracted generations of immigrants. Spaniards from the south of the country arrived in the 1960s and later gave way to people from Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Morocco, and many other countries. Today, many of the city’s 260,000 residents work in low-income jobs and live in crowded small cheap apartments.
Due to rising rents due to gentrification, real estate speculation and extortion, more and more young people are joining them. Those who fled Barcelona’s unaffordable rent unknowingly perpetuate this problem; when they arrive, the rents in L’Hospitalet will also rise, and the locals will eventually be unable to afford the house they may have rented for ten years.
Since 2019, people threatened by eviction have been able to turn to local chapters for help Tenant Alliance, A renters’ union established in Barcelona and active throughout Catalonia.
Renters’ unions are nothing new in Europe, but what these people do to reset the relationship between tenants and landlords is extraordinary. I decided to make a movie about the Sindicat members of L’Hospitalet for The Guardian. The movie will also tell the stories of people struggling in the suburbs of the city where I was born, who are usually invisible.
For example, Victor from Ecuador is in his 50s and his small apartment is leased for three years. His rent used to be 690 Euros per month, and has now risen to 805 Euros per month, and his landlord now charges him 900 Euros per month, which is equivalent to his wife’s salary as two full-time cleaners.
Then there is Marlene, a single mother from Bolivia who came to Spain more than 20 years ago. Her story constitutes most of the film, and it is not uncommon. People without formal immigration status often have cash in hand as caregivers and find themselves marginalized and abandoned by the market.
“We who have no documents do not exist,” Marlene said in the film. “They want us to take care of their elders or clean their houses. But when we ask for financial help or roof living, we don’t take it seriously. We just don’t exist.”
Sindicat helped prevent evictions by holding rallies and advocating cases. It provides people with practical legal help and guidance kits so that they can negotiate with the landlord. Perhaps more fundamentally, it lets people know that they are not alone, and shows that there is strength and comfort in numbers.
Sindicat helped vulnerable deported families through direct action—open banks or condos owned by vulture funds that had been vacant for at least two years.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, words such as “expulsion” and “squatter” have appeared in Catalan news headlines, and in many mainstream media narratives, Catalonia has been referred to as “The area with the largest number of people”Using a term with a negative connotation to quantify the number of people who did not formally pay rent is more related to aesthetics and lifestyle, rather than fragile status, which does not help to promote the public’s understanding of the scale of the housing crisis.
Homeowners have a fear and misunderstanding that if they go out on weekends, their homes may be taken over by squatters. But the reality of who is squatting is far from the description of the media. Making this documentary and showing that what motivates people to stay in apartments is why the community of L’Hospitalet is willing to collaborate on the production of this film.
In Spain, social housing representatives Less than 2% of households, Is one of the lowest tax rates in the OECD and the EU. So who is responsible for the lives of people on the front lines of poverty?In Catalonia, this is also the region with the most relocations in Spain, exceeding 24 families are evicted every day. Especially in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, the deported families received only three days’ allowance and then were left on the street. Without proper welfare or social service systems, families and single parents are often in a difficult situation.
Women like Marlene-and the film’s other protagonist Dalila-are forced to bear an emotional burden because of lack of housing security. They all found themselves on the streets, with nowhere to go, to take care of a child who was too young to learn the cost of living. But these tough women can only think for a week at a time, and Sindicat helps them find a place to stay temporarily, even if it means squatting down. They know that their lives have not failed, but that they are on the wrong side of a structural problem: the opportunity to obtain affordable housing is unfair. They themselves have received the help and support of the community. Now, because they work long hours and are busy with various unstable jobs, they hope to give back this kind of help by standing with their neighbors.
Sindicat is organized through group consultations, which means discussing cases at weekly gatherings, which are usually held in parks, where anyone who has experienced similar experiences can provide advice. The union has also set a precedent for collective bargaining by organizing neighbors who have the same landlord in the same building or in different locations to develop a common bargaining strategy.One of Sindicat’s highlights so far is to help Develop a rent control bill The bill was approved by the Catalan Parliament in September 2020.
Stopping evictions, opening up vacant properties, winning contracts or changing policies are all victories in the struggle to strengthen housing, and may provide lessons for communities in other European cities to fight against the shortage of affordable housing. Sindicat’s members in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat organized on the streets and collected extensive and valuable social knowledge. This knowledge makes the community stronger and opens the door to respectful and humane housing solutions that do not involve marginalized and troubled families. If health and education are regarded as basic rights, why not housing?
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