Caritas on the neighborhood opposition to those evicted from B9: "There is a rivalry between the precarious against the most precarious"

BadalonaThe director of Caritas Barcelona, ​​Eduard Sala, has called for "rebuilding bridges" to find a solution for the hundred or so people evicted last week from the former B9 high school in Badalona, ​​who are now surviving in a makeshift camp under the C-31 highway bridge. This comes hours after a small group of local residents... prevented the opening of the Virgen de Montserrat parish To provide shelter for 15 people overnight, the head of the diocesan organization indicated that the alliance of social entities and the Department of Social Rights and Inclusion are holding meetings throughout the day to find new spaces available for the temporary and emergency accommodation of the most vulnerable members of this group. In response to the shouts and insults directed at the evicted migrants by the demonstrators, Sala called for calm and attributed the neighborhood tension to the increase in social insecurity, which affects one in four Catalans. "There is a rivalry between those in precarious situations and those in even more precarious situations," he emphasized in a conversation with ARA, in which he acknowledged that residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods "feel abandoned by institutions and even by the organizations themselves." Therefore, he affirms that it is necessary for all the actors working to assist those evicted from the B9 shelter "to sit down at the table" and continue the dialogue. "It would be unfair to say that all the residents who were called to action are racist, just as it would be unfair to accuse the residents of B9 of being criminals," said Sala, who affirms that without collective efforts "we will not move forward."

After the failed attempt to house 15 people in the parish provided by the Archdiocese, social service organizations have spent the entire day trying to find a stable solution. The idea is to reopen the church with all the necessary safety measures in place for residents and staff, but they are also continuing to search for new services "without endangering anyone," Sala insists. For weeks, the organizations and the regional government have been working together to locate available spaces with the necessary conditions to accommodate as many people as possible. But it's not easy because the vulnerable population is constantly growing, due in part to the difficulty of affording housing and low wages. The number of residential places offered by the organizations is overwhelmed by high demand, and there is a long waiting list of other vulnerable groups. All kinds of premises have been analyzed, including parish offices, but these have been ruled out for not meeting minimum requirements.