UN calls on the State to prevent two evictions in Barcelona
It demands that the vulnerability of Malek's family, with two young children in Sant Andreu, and of Alejandro, an 83-year-old resident of the Gòtic, be taken into account.
BarcelonaMalek, his wife and their two children, aged 9 and 14, were paying 500 euros rent for a flat in the Sant Andreu neighbourhood of Barcelona that changed ownership - it was bought by a large tenant - just over a year ago. He, as a result of covid, lost his job in a recycling company and the new owner now wants to raise the rent by more than 200 euros, up to 720. But the family has a total income of 718 euros per month. They are willing to continue paying the rent they were paying with the previous owner, but they can't afford the increase. "I'm two euros short of being able to pay it", Malek laments.
Despite the fact that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the United Nations (UN) had asked to stop the eviction of Malek's family, the judicial process has not stopped and different neighbourhood organizations have made an appeal to prevent it from being executed yesterday. The eviction was scheduled for 12.30 pm and did not go ahead, despite the fact that the property is determined to complete it, if necessary, with the presence of the riot police of the Mossos on another day. Yesterday there were not enough agents of the Brimo to make it effective, but the lawyer of the property has made it clear that next time they will come prepared to execute the eviction even if there are neighbors concentrated at the door.
The UN had asked for precautionary measures so as not to leave the family homeless, either by stopping the eviction or by guaranteeing alternative accommodation for the family. In its brief, the committee argues the need to stop the process to avoid "irreparable harm" to the family while their case is being analyzed. And this is exactly the same argument it uses in the case of Alejandro, an 83-year-old resident of the Barri Gòtic who is facing an eviction with an open date.
After 64 years living in his wife's family's flat in Estruc street, they are now trying to evict him because, while he was in a very vulnerable situation due to the death of close relatives, he did not request in writing the subrogation of the rental contract within the established deadline. Alejandro lost, in little more than a year, his two children and his wife and suffered a depression that forced him to spend days in hospital.
It was at this time when he did not request the bureaucratic subrogation of the rent, as denounced by Resistim al Gòtic, who have taken his case to the UN. The organization has now issued precautionary measures to stop the process and avoid "irreparable damage" and has proposed them to both the State and the court. "We are now awaiting the judge's decision. We are trying by all possible means to stop the eviction", explains Martí Cusó, of the neighbourhood platform.
