"I am afraid of what will happen": evictions begin in a chain in La Mina

Sant Adrià de BesòsA new front of conflict is opening in the La Mina neighborhood of Sant Adrià. The Mossos d'Esquadra evicted the first three families this morning out of the 58 that are planned to be removed in total from buildings occupied since 2017 on La Rambla de la Mina. More evictions are planned, on June 22, 25, and 29; and so on, until the building is emptied. The reason, according to the administration, is that these publicly owned apartments were built to house the residents of the Venus building, in the same neighborhood, and are now needed because the demolition of the building—which is presented as the key piece for transforming the neighborhood—is finally planned for 2028. the residents of the Venus building, in the same neighborhood, and are now needed because the demolition of the building—which is presented as the key piece for transforming the neighborhood— is finally planned for 2028.

Thus, the residents occupying these newer buildings began to receive eviction notices a few months ago. And today, the first three have been carried out. According to the Union of Housing of Verneda and Besòs, these are three families with minor children in their care, who have now "been left on the street."

The eviction has caused moments of tension between residents and the police. As early as the morning, about forty people had put up metal fences to try to block the agents' passage. Shortly after, however, with the arrival of police vans, the Mossos forcibly removed all those gathered and dismantled the fences. "They told us that the delegation would come first and the affected people could present their cases, but they didn't, they threw us all out by pushing," recounts Marta López, spokesperson for the union. There were pushes, scuffles, shouts, and also insults against the police. Objects were also thrown. "Don't you see that this is full of children? Don't you dare touch the children!" the residents gathered at the door repeated in front of the police cordon.

"I should never have to live through this, a creature": affected families demand social rent

On the opposite sidewalk, Amara confesses she is afraid. She is the mother of 3 children, the youngest being 5 years old. "Today she left happy to celebrate the end of the school year at school, and when we went out into the street she didn't understand anything and left very upset. A girl her age should never have to experience scenes like these." Amara and her husband, Juan, explain that they occupied the apartment in 2017. "We had nowhere to go," she justifies. They live on the minimum vital income and have no family support network. "These apartments were built for the people of [the building] Venus, but they were kept absolutely empty during the housing crisis for almost eight years," denounces Amara, who assures that they have never intended to "take anyone's apartment away."

She and her husband, Juan, do not yet have an eviction date and have not received any notification. "I have a vulnerability report, I can show all the papers, but even so, I'm afraid of what will happen," she gets emotional. "I'm not asking for free rent, what I would like is for someone to come here and review case by case: if someone doesn't deserve it or has done bad things, let them be kicked out, but there are those of us who truly need help and haven't done anything wrong," she defends herself.

Three days in a shelter: "And then what?"

Antonio and his wife, Jenny, do have a date. In four days, on the 22nd, it's their turn to be evicted. "They only offer us three nights in a shelter. Alright, I'll take it, but... and then what?", asks Antonio. He is unemployed and the family —which has a child under seven with severe autism— survives on the money Jenny makes doing nails for neighbors in the area.

Both assure that finding a job is not easy for them. "We don't have studies, and we regret that very much, but we are capable of doing many jobs. Now, it's not easy at all to get a job when you have this face," says Antonio. "I've been fired from places when they found out I was Roma," corroborates Jenny. "They put us all in the same bag, and with the issue of housing too. Are there people who have done bad things here to survive? Yes, I won't deny it, this is La Mina. But not all of us. There are those of us who are honest people," argues Antonio.

A questioned management

The Verneda and Besòs Housing Union criticizes the management carried out by the Mina Consortium to recover housing. "There is a 2023 protocol that states that for occupied apartments that are publicly owned, the case-by-case scenario and the possibility of regularization should be considered. Now this has stopped being applied," argues López, from the union. "To relocate the others, they want to evict another sixty families with the only solution on the table being three days of shelter, which is nothing more than another form of homelessness," he continues.

"There is a great need to rehouse the residents of the Venus building, it is true, but this cannot happen by evicting others, pitting families against each other and telling them that if they don't have the apartments, it's because others are occupying them," they express from the union. "They don't have the apartments ready because they have done a horrible job managing everything, setting impossible conditions for many, which has resulted in these buildings being empty, in La Mina, for 8 years, in the midst of a housing access crisis," López assesses.

The collective argues that there are "alternative" solutions to mass eviction, such as the mobilization of empty housing, the expansion of public housing, or, directly, the regularization of the families' situation in the buildings: "What is lacking is not tools, but political will."