Cry in Barcelona to protect housing: "Without changes we will never be able to emancipate ourselves"

BarcelonaThe housing crisis has turned everything upside down in just a few weeks, and tenants' unions are not backing down: they warn that the announced early election call does not solve any problems nor does it change the plans to go on a general strike. This Monday, they confirmed this as thousands of protesters took to the streets of Barcelona once again to flatly reject speculation and demand the right to housing. A protest that was supposed to take place on Saturday—as in the rest of the country's major cities—but which in Catalonia had to be postponed due to heavy storms, and which gathered 20,000 people according to the Barcelona City Council, and 120,000 according to the organizers.

The demonstration began at Plaça Urquinaona and advanced along Ronda de Sant Pere to Arc de Triomf. When the front of the march reached this point, there were still protesters at the start who had not yet begun to move due to the large influx of people. To the cry of 'no neighbor out of the neighborhoods', 'guilty landlords, responsible governments', and 'it makes no sense, people without homes and homes without people', they advanced along Passeig de Sant Joan to Plaça Tetuan. The demonstration continued along Gran Via and will end at Passeig de Gràcia, where a call will be made to participate in the encampment at Plaça Catalunya. In this last stretch, the protesters encountered a strong police deployment to prevent the march from moving forward. At this point, moments of tension were experienced; there was throwing of objects and pyrotechnics against the police cordon, and officers retaliated with some baton strikes to dissuade them.

The call has reached all kinds of people, and the profile of the protesters is quite diverse. Laia, Lucas, and Núria are students and still live at their parents' house, but they did not hesitate to take to the street this Monday to demonstrate for the right to housing. "We will never be able to emancipate ourselves this way, it is our future," he explains. David, on the other hand, explains that he is a homeowner and that he came in solidarity with all the people who cannot buy an apartment. "Rents are impossible, and luckily I was able to buy an apartment. I have a 30-year mortgage, mind you," he says. He wants to make it clear that he is one of the few in his group who has been able to buy.

Before the protesters began the march, ARA reported in advance that there will be a general strike for housing before the Spanish elections on November 29. The majority unions, CCOO and UGT, have announced that they are supporting the strike proposed days ago by the tenants' unions, which on Sunday already had the backing of the CGT union, according to sources familiar with the conversations. The spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, Carme Arcarazo, welcomed the support and argued that broad consensus is needed to carry out this stoppage. "We want this strike to be a success: we are facing a very powerful enemy," she warned. And she added: "We have one month to organize the entire working class of the country."

The spokesperson for the Socialist Housing Union of Catalonia, Gisela Bermúdez, harshly attacked all political leaders and said that "there is no party that really wants to put an end to the housing crisis" because "no party wants to break with the housing business." She also demanded "the expropriation of all apartments" from large property holders, banks, and vulture funds; lowering the price of rents by half and applying indefinite contracts so that the working class "stops suffering anxiety."

The Housing Union Confederation of Catalonia also wanted to point out the role of the Generalitat Government in the housing crisis. According to its spokesperson, Marta Espriu, President Illa also has "responsibility" in managing the situation. And, from the PAH, Juanjo Ramón celebrated that "the streets have awakened" and believes it is "a window of opportunity" and "a framework of hope" for everyone who has lost their housing in recent years.

They are approving the decrees again

The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has confirmed that the Spanish government will re-approve on Tuesday the royal decree-laws on housing that were rejected last Friday in the plenary session of Congress –with the votes against from PP, Vox and Junts– but with some variations, although he has assured that they will not lower "any of the protection measures." Specifically, it will re-approve measures such as the ban on evictions until 2030, the extension of rental contracts until December 31, 2028, the regulation of tourist and seasonal rentals or the regulation of vulture funds. "If there is any improvement that can be made, always in the sense of improving protection, we will study it between now and tomorrow," he said.

The two decrees were published last Wednesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and were in force until Friday. During this period, they managed to stop at least a dozen evictions in Barcelona. With one, the possibility of launching the so-called indefinite rental contracts lapses: the automatic extensions of contracts, which in some cases would be accompanied by compensation to tenants –if the law is not complied with–, are lost. With the other, a battery of measures disappears, many of which are social, also in terms of housing. For example, the moratorium on some evictions for vulnerable families.