Slum dwelling became a consolidated reality in the Barcelona of the 60s, with nuclei that became true neighborhoods like Montjuïc or El Somorrostro, but it seemed to have been left behind in the 90s with the major urban development projects that the Olympic Games brought. Instead, homelessness was never completely eradicated, but it was linked to situations of extreme marginality or addiction. Now, with the arrival of new contingents of immigrant population (just as happened in the 60s), both homelessness and a new form of slum dwelling are proliferating again and pose an enormous political challenge to a society that, while it has prospered economically greatly in the last 50 years, maintains significant social differences.

He leaves the tent, which by midday must already be an oven inside. “No problems, no police,” he says, looking from side to side. From the dozen tents in this corner of the ronda del Litoral, between L'Hospitalet and Barcelona, no one peeks out when they hear a strange voice. At the door of each one, there are trainers and pool flip-flops that reveal that the owners have preferred to remain oblivious to what is happening outside and avoid problems. They are afraid that making themselves visible will force them to move again. This group has settled in a vacant lot between roads, having come from evictions at the airport, the Ciutadella, and the Zona Franca. “They are looking for the periphery,” illustrate those from the organizations, who point out that they opt to go more unnoticed by the police and also by the neighbors.

Between Girona and Salt, in a half-finished farmhouse, about twenty African boys, originally from countries like Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali, are living in hardship. The house has no electricity or water. It also lacks doors and windows in the openings, and inside, there is only the structure of the main walls. The young men have improvised compartments with cardboard and fabrics where they sleep on mattresses, blankets, and camping tents. In the middle of the building, there is a staircase without walls or a railing, with a very dangerous fall into the void, especially at night. They cook in a room with a wood fire on the ground or with gas stoves, shower with jugs from the well, and have no toilets.

It has been more than four years since the death of Munir and Jéssica in the shantytown of Montcada i Reixac. In this time, however, the situation of the settlement has not changed at all and its inhabitants continue to live in poverty between the Besòs river and the BV-5001 road, invisible to the administrations despite the tragedy. That day in January 2022 it was cold, the couple lit a fire to warm themselves and died of asphyxiation inside their makeshift home, leaving three children orphaned. The arrival of a new summer does not improve the neighbors' outlook, as with the rising temperatures they have to seek refuge outside the shack—built with sheet metal or materials not very resistant—when the sun beats down the hardest and makes the air inside unbreathable. This is the case of a man resting in the shade without a shirt. He does not want to give his name, nor have his photograph taken and be interviewed, he is tired of reporting the situation and angry about the lack of help they have received: "They died right next door and everything remains the same; I don't want to talk to you because it will be useless".

This weekend I passed by the settlement that was evicted today in La Sagrera, where the AVE high-speed train station is being built. It was heartbreaking: single-person shacks built with corrugated iron sheets covered with plastic tarps held down with stones; clothes hanging to dry on lines tied to branches; electrical wires, the remains of bonfires, shopping carts, and trash everywhere, with an abundance of plastic bottles and jugs. The occupants came and went through holes they had easily cut in the wire fence. Frightened neighbors, a feeling of insecurity, and more than one theft. They had been there for months, with Adif, the landowner, doing nothing.

Several explosions and a large column of fire and smoke woke residents of Barcelona's Sant Martí district this morning. A fire in a shantytown at the intersection of Huelva and Bac de Roda streets—next to the La Sagrera construction site—injured two people and burned six of these structures. Firefighters, who received the call at 7:00 a.m., worked to extinguish the blaze with ten crews around 9:00 a.m. They continued to soak the burned area until mid-morning. One of the victims suffered burns, and another a cut finger. According to municipal sources, at least one of the two was taken to Vall d'Hebron Hospital, while the other was treated and released at the scene.

Jesús Sánchez explains that the person who rented them the plot had deceived them all along and has now fled. "We called him, but he didn't answer. He's gone," he says. He and his family lived in the illegal campsite that the police evicted this Monday on rural land in Mataró. According to census data, 85 people were living there, and another 44 were undergoing the registration process. However, more people were reportedly spending the night at this campsite, which Barcelona's first investigating court ordered to be evicted. "Suddenly, we found ourselves on illegal land," another man complains, saying he feels deceived.

Two decades ago, the then Education Minister, Josep Bargalló, stated that Catalan schools only had to "have the prefabricated modules that were necessary", but he also made a very clear warning: "We will never stop having prefabricated classrooms". At that time, the number of barracks in schools and institutes in Catalonia was 643. Since then, the new ministers who have led the ministry, of three different political colours, have been repeating this same message at the beginning of each school year with minor variations.