400,000 people live crammed into rooms in the Barcelona metropolitan area

Santa Coloma de GramanetAround 400,000 people in the Barcelona metropolitan area live in overcrowded conditions, in sublet rooms and shared apartments. Based on the latest FOESSA report with data from 2024, Cáritas Barcelona details that in the cities included in this diocese, Social insecurity is higher than in Catalonia as a whole and in the StateAlthough economic improvement and social assistance have halved extreme poverty (6%) compared to the data from the same study in 2018. In this diocesan region (Maresme and Barcelonès), 2.8 million people reside, and it is estimated that almost one in four live on the edge, unable to make ends meet. The situation is even worse for young people and foreigners, whose poverty and exclusion rates are 2.4 times higher than those of the general population.. Stratospheric housing prices are consuming the bulk of their income: 15% are left in severe poverty after paying rent. According to Amelia de Juan, head of the social and analysis department at Cáritas, the soaring cost of apartment rentals is causing an increase in demand for rooms, a trend that is also driving up subletting prices. Leidy Katherine Cubides and Brayan León Chacón have experienced firsthand the impossibility of finding decent housing. Arriving less than a year ago at Madrid airport on tourist visas from Colombia, it was an obstacle course from day one, and only the news of the birth of their son Emiliano in the Spanish capital brought the couple a happy respite. For the past few weeks, they have been living in an apartment in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, which they share with three other people. Cáritas covers the €700 monthly rent, as well as other basic expenses for the couple because the hours Chacón manages to find work at a cleaning company are not enough. "We need at least 2,000 euros; with less, it's impossible to survive," says Chacón, who remains confident despite the situation.

Papers obtained

Since their son was born in Spain to Colombian parents, he was born with Spanish nationality. Thanks to this, the couple obtained their residency permit in a record time of four months, and then, "as a Christmas present," on December 1st, their work permit as well. "Now we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with a contract because without papers or a home, you lose energy, you feel suffocated, and you can only think about the present. You lose the ability to look for work or to convince someone to hire you," reflects the 29-year-old man, who is crossing his fingers that one of the job interviews in the coming days will lead to his first job.

The couple's journey to their shared apartment in Santa Coloma has been difficult because they were "deceived" when a man promised them a house and a job in Fuerteventura. They arrived in Barcelona believing that a relative would help them, but they ended up sleeping with their child in the El Prat airport terminal and in a park in Poblenou. They remained in this situation until they found people who took them in for a few days because—they say—social services neglected them. Furthermore, they encountered the unpleasant surprise that landlords refused to rent them any space for their child. "It's easier for a couple, but when you say you have a child, it's complicated because they say that since we're vulnerable, they can't kick us out," complains Cubides, who had considered returning home.

This couple's case illustrates the snapshot taken by FOESSA, which shows that nine out of ten overcrowded households include minors or precarious employment. Subletting is synonymous not only with having to share a kitchen or bathroom, but also with insecurity, lack of privacy, or, as happened to this family, landlords showing up unannounced and opening the rooms.