There are realities that make us uncomfortable. Not because they are new, but because they remind us of what we prefer not to see. Homelessness is one of them. It is not an urban anecdote or an inevitable landscape; it is the symptom of a collective failure, of a society that has normalized that there are people who have nowhere to sleep. And, even more serious, that has begun to design spaces so that they cannot be there.

The Badalona City Council has installed about twenty concrete blocks under the C-31 highway bridge, precisely where for a few days dozens of homeless people lived in tents, most of them from the former B9 Institute. On March 24, the council led by the popular Xavier García Albiol ordered the eviction of the settlement, justifying it as a temporary measure for the need to clean and sanitize the area, which had been occupied since the end of December last year. However, he stated that once the toxic effect of the products used had passed, it would be allowed to be occupied again. Now, however, a municipal brigade has completely blocked access to the site, which is being guarded by an Urban Guard patrol, according to ACN. lived in tents for days, most of them from the former B9 Institute. On March 24, the council led by the popular Xavier García Albiol ordered the eviction of the settlement, justifying it as a temporary measure for the need to clean and sanitize the area, occupied since the end of December last year. However, he stated that once the toxic effect of the products used had passed, it would be allowed to be occupied again. Now, however, a municipal brigade has completely blocked access to the site, which is being guarded by an Urban Guard patrol, according to ACN.

Five people living on the streets have died in Badalona this year. According to the Badalona Acull platform, which confirmed the information to ARA, the latest victim was a homeless man. Badalona DailyA 60-year-old man, a resident of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, was found dead on February 15th inside the car where he had been living in the Puigfred neighborhood. According to the platform, which brings together a dozen social organizations in Badalona, ​​the man had been living in a vehicle since December, parked at number 51 Otger Street, in the Puigfred neighborhood, near the Santa Coloma municipal boundary. The only information the city council, led by Mayor Xavier García Albiol, has provided about the case is that he lived in the neighborhood and that there was a restraining order against him from a woman residing in the city. This latest death brings the total to six, including Raúl, Luis, Jordi, and a fourth man who was also living on the streets but has not yet been identified. Just three days ago, the residents of Badalona remembered them in a tribute ceremony in the Plaza de la Vila, where they also took the opportunity to demand the reopening of the municipal shelter. Can Bofí Vell, which closed in April in 2024, leaving the 45 people who were staying there homeless and the city without any emergency residential services. Since then, six homeless people have died in Badalona.

A rough noise, the whisper of two voices, or a sliver of music at night, when the building is deserted, puts the neighbors on alert. The real shock comes in broad daylight, when they climb the steps from the fifth to the sixth and final floor of the staircase. There, right in front of the armored door leading to the rooftop, lies a tiny mattress boxed in and a small backpack left by the previous night's occasional residents before leaving while the building still remains silent. At night, they will return quietly, trying to go unnoticed. The scene is in a building in the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona, ​​where residents have decided in a meeting to close off the final section of the staircase with a gate. Between fear and unease, the residents of the fifth floor—who wish to remain anonymous—explain that it isn't always the same people hiding on the top floor, and they suspect that someone must have a key to the front door. In the few months this situation has lasted, there has never been any conflict. The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) confirm that there are no complaints or noteworthy incidents related to these situations. In fact, beyond living on the streets in squares or tents, homelessness is basically an invisible phenomenon, and in most cases, there is coexistence. Neighbors even tend to "take care" of the people sleeping there, bringing them "hot soup or blankets." "A community is created," says Raquel Rico, a homelessness specialist with the Girona City Council and president of the Girona branch of the College of Social Educators of Catalonia (CEESC), who emphasizes the need to "humanize" homeless people. "They feel like garbage, and a simple 'Good morning!' gives them life," the expert states.

It's the first morning of Ramadan, and about thirty young Algerians are more worried about what will happen tomorrow, Thursday, when they'll be evicted again to clean the space than about how they'll spend the hours until they break their religious fast. They are among the 175 people who were evicted last week. evicted from a vacant lot on 2nd Street in the Free Trade Zone which, according to the Barcelona City Council, was infested with rats. The group then dispersed through streets and other areas of the industrial park, the Ronda Litoral ring road, and Montjuïc mountain, far from residential buildings. On Tuesday, officers from the Guardia Urbana (Barcelona's municipal police) informed them that a cleaning crew would arrive on Thursday at 7:00 a.m. to remove anything they hadn't collected. They would only be allowed to set up their tent encampment again after 8:00 p.m. and would have to leave by 8:00 a.m.

How many more people have to die on the streets before we take the rise in homelessness seriously? We've been talking about it more than usual for the past few weeks. The five deaths of people sleeping on the streets of Catalan cities during a cold snap, and the evident increase in the problem in recent times, are filling pages and airtime on television and radio. But we're outraged at how we've normalized thousands of people spending their nights and days rough, while we continue to shift the focus from housing to emergency situations and demand that social services lead actions that, strictly speaking, fall under the purview of civil protection.

The Badalona City Council has requested permission from the Catalan government to evict the settlement located under the C-31 bridge. This is where they settled. Dozens of people after the eviction from the former B9 InstituteA few meters away. According to the City Council, there are no longer any former residents of the B9 under the highway bridge, as they have all been relocated, but other homeless people remain. The affected land belongs to the highway company and, therefore, the Generalitat (Catalan government) is the owner. The City Council assures that the relocation of the people from the B9 was completed on Wednesday and that they will now take action to eliminate this settlement. The council is citing the civic ordinance that expressly prohibits "camping without municipal authorization." The camping ban was also the reason given by the City Council in the first hours after the eviction in mid-December, when some occupants of the B9 tried to settle in the square directly in front of the old high school. Once they were evicted from there, they ended up settling under the C-31 highway. The City Council estimates that there are currently about twenty people under the bridge and that social services are monitoring the situation. The city council maintains that some of these people have arrived from other cities. They believe there has been a "pull factor" effect, after this location became the central hub for social services aid to the homeless following the B9 case.

This Saturday morning marks just two weeks since we woke up, first and foremost, to the news of the bombings of Caracas—nearly 100 deaths, unpunished and already forgotten. Then, with radios on and mobile phones constantly connected, like those days when everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing, we heard the live broadcast of the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. So much could have happened, and it's still surprising how little actually did. The next day, that is, the cartel The name Los Soles disappeared from the prosecution's indictment. Only oil and ideology remained. putsch From Trump. Circle the tale. And yes: it's only been 15 days since the Donroe Doctrine—and two centuries since the Monroe Doctrine. And yet, it already seems like an eternity—both the fifteen days and the two centuries. On the tightrope of the cannibalistic raffle of the new year, the thick doubt of who will be next to receive: Greenland, Iran, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Gaza again, or Ukraine again. And the EU playing the fool. 2026 has begun with the jumble of confusion, the farewell to yesterday's world, and teetering along several cliffs whose destination we'll see, because if we already know how the year has started, the important thing is to get involved so that it doesn't end as some intend. Pornographically, there is this brutal declaration from Lieutenant Stephen Miller, both inside and outside the walls, which has blown everything up: "The real world is governed by force and power: these are the iron laws of the world." The brutality being justified is everywhere: Delta Force is now the global equivalent of what ICE is at home. The same cruelty, inside and out, but with resistance both within and outside the country. And with Renee Nicole Good killed by an agent who had fought in Iraq. When Trump kills equally at home and abroad.

Barcelona will increase the number of places available for homeless people during the colder months: from the current 100 to 178, and will reinforce its outreach teams with twelve new members. This was announced by the Deputy Mayor for Social Rights, Raquel Gil, during the first meeting of the City Roundtable against Homelessness. The measure aims to "size" current municipal services to respond to the increase in homeless citizens in the Catalan capital.

"In theory, it's an obligation for city councils, but, as we've seen in Badalona, ​​some choose not to." Political scientist Alba Lanau, professor and researcher at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), laments that in practice, local administrations can get away with failing to fulfill their obligations to assist the homeless. The law establishes the minimum standards that the administration must guarantee, but there are hardly any precedents of non-compliance that have reached the courts. Added to this is the difficulty for people in extremely vulnerable situations to want to—and be able to—initiate legal proceedings, and voices from specialized social organizations admit that the lack of resources has also ultimately weighed heavily in dismissing legal action whenever it has been considered.

The housing crisis has its darkest face in homelessness. Ignoring it is not a solution. Letting them die of cold is a disgrace. This is what we, as a society, are doing.

"A man who slept on the street died here yesterday. No one will claim him. 'Just another one,' the newspapers will say tomorrow. A man died here yesterday, and I'll never know his name. It doesn't matter, because he could have brought yours and mine. He died of cold, hunger, or perhaps sadness." The writing is stuck to the ground, right under the bench where Eusebio used to spend hours sitting. This Tuesday, the 57-year-old man was found dead. He was sitting. "He'd been sitting there for too long," Ahmed says, still shaken. He's known him for four years, from the streets. "He was quiet, he hadn't had an easy life," he repeats. He came from Serbia and had been homeless for years. Arrels Fundació had known him since 2021. He died during the coldest night in years in Barcelona. "I run so I don't freeze," Ahmed says.

A homeless man died on Tuesday, Three Kings' Day, on a street in Badalona. According to municipal sources, the Guardia Urbana (local police) received a call about the incident at 2 p.m. The SEM (Emergency Medical Service) arrived at the scene and found the man dead inside the parking garage where he was living. According to sources from social service organizations in Badalona, ​​the man was found this afternoon by a neighbor on Torres i Bages Street. They said he had been taking refuge on the porch of one of the buildings for several days, but the neighbor was unaware of it. A local resident and market worker noticed the man's situation and decided to help him. Around 1 p.m. this afternoon, he went down to the parking garage to offer him a cup of hot broth. When he went down to bring him the drink, he found the man dead and called for an ambulance. When the paramedics arrived, they confirmed the man's death. The causes are still unknown, and SEM sources explain that the case has been referred to the courts.

"There was nothing. What you'd find in a sports hall. I don't know if they expected people to sleep lying on the basketball court." Carles Sagués, spokesperson for Badalona Acoge, criticizes the meager resources the city deployed Sunday night to provide shelter for the homeless as temperatures dropped. The City Council opened the doors of the La Colina pavilion, but there were no beds or blankets, the activist explains. There was also no option to use the showers, nor were residents allowed to bring their own sleeping mats or bags "due to the possibility of contagion," the council argued, according to Sagués. The group of activists who visited the space even felt uneasy—"we almost didn't dare," Sagués admits—about informing the people still living in a settlement under a bridge on the C-31 highway, approximately an hour's walk from the La Colina pavilion, about this option. since they were evicted from the old B9 school More than two weeks ago.

The Catalan government (Generalitat) brought the relocation process for those evicted from the former B9 high school in Badalona to a close just hours before it was due to end in 2025. They have announced the opening of a "new phase" in the emergency program implemented by the Department of Social Rights and Inclusion in collaboration with social service organizations. From now on, according to sources within the department, the Badalona City Council's social services will be responsible for monitoring and making new referrals for the approximately forty people still sleeping under the C-31 bridge. The government and the alliance of social service organizations will form a group to design comprehensive inclusion plans for those evicted from the former high school in Badalona. These plans will address their immigration status, access to the job market, training, and healthcare. According to the Department of Social Rights, "the return to Badalona of those temporarily displaced as part of the emergency operation will be encouraged so that they can develop their inclusion plans within the municipality."

Also at Christmas, the activist Carlos Sagués She's been going back and forth, visiting the dozens of people who, after being evicted from the B9 building in Badalona, ​​continue to live in squalor under the C-31 highway bridge. Much to her chagrin, Sagués is the public face of Badalona Acull, the umbrella organization for the city's social service agencies, whose volunteers dedicate countless hours, physical and emotional effort, to caring for this group. All of this is done without any public aid or subsidies. The case of the occupants of the former high school, cleared by court order earlier this month, isn't Sagués's only cause; she's been known for years for her efforts to prevent [the eviction of these people]. evictions of the residents of Sant Roc

Under the C-31 bridge there are more questions than answersThe only certainty this Wednesday, Christmas Eve, is that dozens of those evicted from the former B9 high school in Badalona remain without relocation assistance from the Red Cross and the Department of Social Rights. Essentially, they are asking for more information to assess whether it's worth leaving their lives in this remote location for temporary shelter, even if only for two months. "Yesterday, everyone was rushing to get people onto the buses, but without explaining how or where, without giving these young people any information," one complains. Victoria Columba, from Regularization NowFor him, the plans "have arrived late, are poorly done, and are insufficient" to address the needs of all those affected.

The opposition in Badalona City Council took advantage of the extraordinary plenary session called for this Wednesday to criticize Albiol for his handling of the eviction. The issue was not on the agenda, but parties ranging from the PSC to ERC, Badalona En Comú Podem, and Guanyem Badalona demanded explanations from the mayor regarding the "humanitarian crisis" facing the city. However, the mayor responded that "the issue is almost resolved, if not resolved." He added: "The residents are, in very general terms, satisfied with the actions of their government." Dolors Sabater, of Guanyem, described as "extremely serious" the fact that the PP government evicted the 400 people from building B9 without offering them any alternative housing in the middle of winter. Aïda Llauradó (En Comú Podem) blamed them for "creating chaos," "singling out and discriminating against migrants," and fueling "hate speech," while the Republican Àlex Montornès described the attitude toward the deported migrants as shameful and appealed to the spirit of the people. "The solution isn't to shut down accommodations in parishes or to call for burning down shelters," he emphasized. What most angered Albiol, however, was the intervention of the PSC representative, Christian Carneado, who thanked the Generalitat—also led by the Socialists—for acting in the face of the municipal government's "dereliction of duty" and "lack of humanity," and reminded everyone that the Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating the matter. "We should reflect on this and apologize," he told Albiol. The mayor, who agreed to speak because the issue is "current," responded that "things have started to work out well when there has been institutional collaboration. And I'll leave it at that," he said, suggesting that the Catalan government had not cooperated until now. Having said that, the Popular Party member doubled down on his defense of his actions regarding the B9 building. "It wasn't an action against irregular immigration or against immigrants. Badalona has immigrants, and they are welcome if they come to work. It was an action against illegal employment," he said. "I don't care if the squatters are black or white, handsome or ugly. This is our line of work, and we will continue to pursue it," he concluded. The Comuns and Podemos parties are filing a complaint against Albiol.

Jaume Asens, a Member of the European Parliament for the Comuns party, has also filed a complaint against the mayor of Badalona for the eviction of the former B9 Institute in Badalona. As he explained to Catalunya Ràdio, Asens accuses Albiol of denying public services for discriminatory reasons, hate crimes, disobeying a court order, and administrative malfeasance. "Albiol thinks Badalona is the United States and that he can act like Trump, but he cannot be above the law," he said on Wednesday. The MEP recalled that the court order authorizing the eviction stipulated that the mayor must provide an alternative, which the Badalona City Council has failed to do. In fact, Albiol has repeatedly stated that the council "would not offer accommodation or residential resources." This Tuesday The Prosecutor's Office has already asked the judge who authorized the eviction to request explanations from the City Council. Regarding what measures have been taken to protect the vulnerable people who have been evicted, Asens asserts that Albiol selectively denied assistance to the migrants based on their origin and social status, which would constitute a denial of public service on discriminatory grounds. The Comuns representative also points out that incitement to hatred does not require explicit expressions to be committed. He further argues that there is evidence of repeated disobedience in the Badalona city council's failure to effectively comply with the court order authorizing the eviction. Podemos has also filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office alleging that a "real and sufficient" residential reception system was not organized during the eviction. In a statement, the party recalls that the eviction was authorized by a judge "with express conditions" such as the principle of proportionality, the application of the municipal protocol for assisting homeless people, and the provision of effective social care, including the offer of residential resources. Podemos believes that these conditions have not been met and considers that crimes of failure to provide assistance, administrative malfeasance, and offenses against moral integrity may have been committed.

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After a week outdoors and facing the tension and Tension among a small part of the residents of Badalona Contrary to the lack of support for those evicted from the B9 building, the Department of Social Rights has signed an agreement with various organizations to provide shelter for those who, since Saturday, have been camped under the C-31 bridge and in the ten or so that had occupied the former municipal shelter of Can Bufí Vell, which has been closed for almost two years. The agreement guarantees accommodation for the next two months in different locations throughout Catalonia and also means abandoning the plan to house them at the Parish of Our Lady of Montserrat, the space that could not be opened on Sunday due to a blockade by a few dozen residents. "In the end, the minority won," sources from the third sector told ARA. Without the possibility of using the parish, all parties involved have been working to find new residential spaces and, finally, with the consensus of those affected and the mediation of the ombudsperson for grievances, Esther Giménez-Salinas, the operation to try to house the more than one hundred of the 400 people from Badalona began this Tuesday. Thus, the regional government has already emptied the municipal shelter and transferred those who had occupied it to various towns to escape the cold. It has also deployed a team with municipal social services and the Red Cross to rehouse those currently under the bridge in the Sant Roc neighborhood. The total number of people included is currently unknown as a count is still underway.

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Two separate demonstrations, one for and one against the acceptance of those evicted from the B9 high school in Badalona, clashed this Monday afternoon in front of the gates of the municipal shelter that closed almost two years ago in the Montigalà neighborhood. On one side, hundreds of activists, convened by the Socialist Housing Union, defended the humanitarian assistance provided to the group of young migrants, about ten of whom have been using the shelter since becoming homeless a week ago. Separated by a cordon of riot police from the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), some 300 people shouted racist slogans demanding that they be evicted from Can Bofí Vell and not given shelter. "Let them go back to their country," was the least offensive slogan heard from the neighborhood gathering, where families with children were seen alongside far-right individuals who accused "blacks" of being criminals and creating insecurity. "We don't want them in the neighborhood," a neighbor stated, but her husband, standing beside her, also rejected the idea of opening any other space to care for them.

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