Les xifres no ho expliquen tot. Sovint oculten. Hem parlat moltes vegades de la crisi de l'habitatge, dels preus enlairats, del fenomen creixent del sensellarisme, del retard de l'edat d'emancipació dels joves, de la manca de pisos socials, del gran nombre persistent de desnonaments, de les ocupacions, de compromisos públics per construir... També ens referim molts cops al dret bàsic, constitucional, a tenir un lloc digne on viure. Un dret que desmenteix una realitat tossuda i dura. Totes aquestes informacions recurrents acostumen a anar acompanyades de dades eloqüents, flagrants. La consciència social de la gravetat del problema de l'habitatge s'ha anat estenent. Qui més qui menys està avui afectat en el seu entorn per la problemàtica de l'habitatge. Però a vegades cal un cas extrem per acabar de visualitzar i assumir de la magnitud de la tragèdia.

The couple who died by asphyxiation inside a shack in Montcada i Reixac in a shanty town on the banks of the Besòs river with half a thousand substandard housing units, brings us face to face with a reality of extreme poverty that we live with without seeing it, or without wanting to see it. It is like the homeless who live in the street, who often have the feeling of being transparent to people's eyes. The two latest victims, who are thought to have died from smoke inhalation, join the family (parents and two very young children) who on November 30 lost their lives in a squat in Barcelona's Plaza Tetuan, in the Eixample in Barcelona, due to a fire. These are realities that we have next door. Not even the combination of social services and charities is enough to attend the growing poverty that remains in the margins of everything, in a complicated subsistence. As we know well, the arrival of cold weather is the most critical moment. These are entrenched situations that have become worse: the coronavirus crisis, when we had not yet finished recovering from the previous economic crisis, has put many people on the edge of the abyss. "Social services have never come here, only the police to warn us not to make too big a fire. This is the frontier," said a settlement dweller, from this forgotten slice of no man's land. The mayor of the town herself, Laura Campos, helpless, describes the situation as a favela in constant growth in the middle of the metropolitan area. In the case of Tetuan, in the heart of Barcelona, social services had visited, and the oldest child attended school. But it had not been possible to provide them with decent and legal housing.

On Sunday Muner and Jèssica were to spend the first night in the new shack he had been building up for some time, 50 meters from the old tin building they had occupied until now by the Besòs river, in a settlement with about half a thousand substandard dwellings in Montcada i Reixac. It was made of more resistant materials to help them get through the harsh winter months. The couple reportedly burned some wood inside a metal container to heat the new home while the doors were closed and ended up suffocating. A brother of the man found the two victims at midday. Emergency teams were sent to the scene, but could do nothing to prevent these two new deaths as a result of severe poverty.