A displacement is underway in La Mina that foresees the eviction of about sixty people

The eviction of about sixty people occupying seven public housing blocks in La Mina, Sant Adrià del Besòs, began this Thursday morning. The judicial delegation, accompanied by a large deployment with several ARRO vans from the Mossos, arrived in the neighborhood to carry out the first three evictions -out of a total of 58- of the so-called Blocs de la Rambla, occupied since 2017.

These are public housing units that had fallen into oblivion by the administrations, but which the Consorci de la Mina now wants to recover to allocate them to residents who need to be rehoused from the Venus block, which is to be demolished in 2028 as a key part of the project to transform the neighborhood. About 40 people have gathered at the entrance of the blocks with construction fences to prevent the eviction, but the Mossos have removed the elements and forced the door open.

The dwellings in question were to be used for the rehousing of those evicted from the Venus building, but they ended up empty due to continuous changes in the project and were occupied in 2017. Of the three eviction cases this Thursday, two affect families with children in their care who have no housing alternative, according to the Housing Union. They also report that for years, families have been demanding to regularize their situation and access rental contracts adapted to their income.

"We demand that cases be studied family by family to guarantee a real solution," they demand. The collective argues that there are viable "alternatives," such as mobilizing empty homes, expanding public housing, or directly regularizing the situation of families in the blocks: "It is not a lack of tools, but of political will."

The Consorci de la Mina warned in April about the initiation of evictions and the possibility that they would take place between June and December: the first was scheduled for June 11 and they anticipate that there will be "every week until December." They also insisted that "all the homes" would be used to rehouse residents from Venus. The Government, however, had already announced months ago that this case would be resolved with second-hand homes that the administration would acquire on the open market.