Maika Granados tried up to three times for a social rental for the ground floor of the Florida neighborhood in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, where she has lived for years with her three children and husband. There was no way for the vulture fund that owned the property or the municipal social services, who had signed "all the vulnerability reports in the world" for her, to heed her pleas. Family income made it impossible to access an apartment on the open market, not even in this neighborhood with a very degraded housing stock: rents already exceed 1,000 euros, and a room, 700.

Data on the impoverishment of Catalans worsens statistic after statistic, with women, children, and immigrants falling deepest into the pit of social vulnerability. The latest demonstration that macroeconomic recovery has not reached people's pockets comes from the recent report published by ECAS (Catalan Entities for Social Action), which highlights that the social exclusion rate is worsening and now affects nearly one in four people, far above the European average.

Nevin Cohen (Brooklyn, New York, 1962) is an expert in public food policies and director of the Urban Food Policy Institute – belonging to the City University of New York – and advocates for actions that can lead to more egalitarian, sustainable, and healthy food. He visits Barcelona to participate in the first international congress of the FARO observatory on the future of food, held at the University of Barcelona, where he is amazed by its historic building. “How beautiful it is to study here,” he says, taking a photo of the cloister.

Around 3,000 Catalan families are waiting to be allocated social housing, but the high demand and limited supply of apartments available to organizations and government agencies mean that waiting lists continue to grow, even though applicants meet the requirements and have received a favorable decision. Until this solution arrives, most families survive by subletting or even staying in social hostels.

Housing costs are now a financial burden for the vast majority of the Catalan population. More than 80% must dedicate over 30% of their income to rent payments, and up to 36% must set aside half their salary. This additional strain is significantly lower among homeowners with outstanding mortgages, with percentages of 62% and 20%, respectively. These figures come from the report. Housing, the cement of inequalitiesA report published by Oxfam Intermón highlights that the cost of housing has increased by 56% since 2014 without a corresponding rise in wages. The report paints a picture of a society where housing is the primary driver of social inequality. And more than by neighborhood, the imbalance is determined by whether or not renting is involved. Only 15% of renters can meet the Bank of Spain's recommendation to spend less than a third of their income on housing. In contrast, among those with a mortgage, the percentage reaches 80%. According to Raquel Checa, head of Oxfam Intermón's Zero Inequality campaign, renting has become "the great trap," as soaring prices make saving almost impossible.

More than Two million Catalans receive care from organizations gathered at the Roundtable of Third Sector Social Entities, which is confident that Parliament will approve, after three years, the third sector law which must recognize the work carried out by professionals and volunteers. Since May 2025, Xavier Trabado Farré has been its president, replacingEnric Morist, died suddenly

Those who love to talk about the issues that truly matter to people are in luck. Finally, in this country, we're talking about the problems of farmers, train passengers, teachers, and the housing shortage. And soon, healthcare workers.

Her legs still tremble when she recounts how she went from being homeless to owning her own apartment. "We were saved by the bell, yes," Anna Pujol (a pseudonym) explains, describing how, after years of being threatened with eviction, pressured to leave quietly, and desperate attempts to stay, she finally succeeded last Wednesday, just 48 hours before the deadline for the eviction notice. Two days earlier, she reached an agreement with the investment fund and signed the preliminary sales agreement to buy the apartment where she and her mother had been renting for twenty years. The process has been very complicated and, emotionally, has been a journey through depression, anxiety, and fear for the mother, who has a disability, and for the daughter, a 24-year-old master's student who just started her first job, which facilitated her obtaining the mortgage.

Before finding this converted shop in Sant Adrià de Besòs, Carlos Arturo Murillo and Lilian Rosibel Flores had been "deceived" in Esplugues de Llobregat. A man had promised them work and a place to live, and their desperation to get ahead led them to accept the offer without considering whether it could be, as it ultimately was, a scam. "He stole everything from us. He didn't pay us what he had promised, and we found ourselves out on the street," says Murillo, sitting on the downstairs sofa, keeping a watchful eye on the front door in case the heavy rain starts to leak inside.

Despite the positive economic figures and from low unemploymentPoverty has increased by 0.8 percentage points in Catalonia over the past year. This breaks the trend of a modest reduction that began in 2021 thanks to the injection of aid from the social safety net approved in response to the pandemic crisis. According to the latest Living Conditions Survey, published this Thursday by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Idescat), 24.8% of the Catalan population is poor and lives with material deprivation. This worsening social situation has not surprised organizations and NGOs, which have been noticing an increase in demand for their services for months. among people who have a jobThe poverty threshold is set at incomes below €13,800 for a single person and €29,100 for two adults and two children, and, in fact, precariousness is particularly affecting children under 16. Child poverty—children living in impoverished families—is a major failing in Catalonia, which ranks among the European regions with the highest number of minors experiencing basic deprivation. In the 0-16 age group, poverty has increased (another year) by 1.3 percentage points, half a point higher than the overall rate, bringing the number of children living in precarious situations to 36.1% of the total. This is the highest percentage of child poverty recorded in the last decade, while a decision is pending on whether to implement a universal childcare benefit so that Spain ceases to be one of the few European countries without a known effective measure.

The La Caixa Foundation is allocating €250 million to social investment this year, according to an agreement signed this Monday between the foundation's president, Isidre Fainé, and the president of the Generalitat (the Catalan government), Salvador Illa. The previous agreement was for €225 million, representing an increase of approximately 11%. Of the total amount, €99 million will be allocated to the foundation's social programs, especially those aimed at the most vulnerable groups. Funding is also included for cultural and research initiatives, as well as scholarships. The amount agreed upon with the Generalitat is part of the €655 million that La Caixa is allocating to social projects this year, the highest amount in its history. After signing the agreement, Fainé explained that the objective is "to strengthen the most transformative projects, dedicated to promoting equal opportunities." "Another strategic priority is the creation of the CaixaResearch Institute, whose building will be inaugurated in 2026. All these projects are focused on contributing to the progress of Catalonia and the well-being of Catalans in the short, medium, and long term," he stated.

Something has happened again that has never happened before, which is that a sitting member of parliament goes to prison.

Catalonia has recovered some of its labor market momentum after the pandemic, but there is a worrying group of 1.4 million workers for whom employment does not free them from living trapped in poverty and without opportunities for social mobility.Job insecurity is the new normal "For a segment of society," according to Cáritas, in a report on exclusion and social development prepared with the FOESSA Foundation based on interviews with 140,000 households across the country and across all socioeconomic backgrounds. The study concludes that the overall improvement in macroeconomic indicators is not reflected in daily life. Many family members are employed, and even those fortunate enough to access social benefits struggle to make ends meet. In this dramatic equation of an active labor market and increased social vulnerability, it is important to consider that salary increases do not offset rising prices (the CPI). The difficulties faced by undocumented immigrants in finding work also contribute to this. Furthermore, exorbitant housing prices force families into precarious living conditions. sublet rooms or to allocate more than half of the income to pay rent or mortgages to avoid becoming homeless.

With winter approaching and the predicted drop in temperatures, homelessness once again confronts us with an uncomfortable reality that we too often prefer to ignore. People living on the streets don't just need blankets or hot food; they need society to stop pointing the finger at them. We persist in simplistic prejudices to ease our consciences, but it's time to educate, to listen before we judge, and to offer a vote of confidence to build more supportive and inclusive communities.

The Martorell City Council approved a ban on Monday prohibiting the filling of water jugs from the town's public fountains. This measure aims to prevent residents without access to piped water at home from collecting it for domestic use. The measure is included in the municipal coexistence ordinance, which the full council will amend with the support of the governing parties, Junts and the PSC. Specifically, the ban expressly prohibits the use of the fountains to "accumulate water using jugs, bottles, or any other type of container that allows for its storage." Violations will result in fines ranging from €100 to €750. For days now, the fountain where Jon (a pseudonym) gets his daily water supply has been dry, forcing him to walk over 500 meters to find another. "I don't know what we'll do without the fountains. Everyone on my blog is without water, and we have to come here every day too, because we have no alternative," he explains. He explains that in his building there are families with young children who, like him, are squatting because there is no affordable housing available. "What harm are we doing?" asks Jaume (also a pseudonym) upon learning of the planned measure while filling two 16-liter jugs. His elderly parents are waiting for him at home. "We drink, cook, and wash with this water," he explains, surprised. "Is it a crime to drink water now?" he concludes.

Bakary and Lassana were minors, and the Catalan government (Generalitat) caused them to end up on the streets by claiming they were adults. Now, the courts have ruled in favor of the two Gambian boys. The age tests carried out by the Public Prosecutor's Office to determine their age, which led the former Directorate General for Child and Adolescent Care (DGAIA) to expel them from children's centers, were invalid. Lassana and Bakary's are just two cases. But there are many more scattered throughout the region. In the city of Girona, there are already two other court rulings, and in La Garrotxa, for example, there have been about ten in recent months.

At the macroeconomic level, Spain is booming. In fact, a few months ago, the OECD identified the country as the fastest-growing advanced economy this year, with a projected growth rate of up to 2.6%. But while the big numbers are dazzling, for many children and young people the narrative of economic growth sounds distant, almost unreal. Their reality is quite different: one of precariousness, inaccessible housing, and vanishing opportunities. Since 2007, social exclusion among children and young people has steadily increased, and today it is consolidating into a genuine generational divide. This is the warning issued in the 9th Foessa Report, prepared by Cáritas and presented this Wednesday. The foundation points out that children are emerging as the hardest-hit group: minors represent a third of all severe exclusion, and their poverty rate has risen to 29%, the highest of all age groups and one of the highest in Europe. Young people are one of the other two most affected groups.

According to the latest report The State of Poverty, prepared by the European Anti-Poverty and Social Exclusion Network (EAPN), the child poverty rate in Spain is particularly alarming: 2.3 million children and adolescents—almost 29%—live in vulnerable situations. This is the highest figure in the EU.

The Banc dels Aliments, which represents Catalonia's food banks, presented this Thursday a new edition of the Gran Recapte (Great Collection), which aims to collect food to cover the needs of 230,000 vulnerable people. This time, the collection is three weeks earlier than usual and will take place over the weekend of November 7 and 8, with a dual approach: product donations from supermarkets and financial contributions.

Work and, above all, housing are the two major factors that mark social inequalityThis is also the case for the migrant population in Barcelona, ​​​​who suffer greater residential exclusion than those born in the State. First, because the majority must live in rented accommodation, at the mercy of sharp increases in market prices, and second, because they hold the lowest-paid jobs, according to the conclusions of the first report of the Observatory of Migration and Refuge of the Metropolis Institute, with data from 2022 and 2023. ~BK_S00 a rental contract, compared to 20% of native-born residents. This difference makes them more vulnerable to residential pressure, since the average rental expense is €1,000 per month, double that of homeowners. Furthermore, since migrants earn an average of €9,000 less per year, they must make a greater effort to meet expenses. In fact, they allocate 41.6% of their earnings to housing, more than double that of those born in the State (18.5%). By tenure, the report reveals that, apart from the 70% who rent, 11% of foreigners own their own home, fully paid for, compared to 57% of natives. The rest are left to cope with mortgage bills.