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

Sant Adrià de BesòsA new conflict front is opening in the La Mina neighborhood of Sant Adrià de Besòs. This morning, the Mossos d'Esquadra evicted the first three families out of the 58 that are expected to be removed in total from buildings occupied since 2017 on La Mina avenue. More evictions are planned for 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, from the same neighborhood,, and are now needed because the demolition of the building — presented as the key piece for the neighborhood's transformation — 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 executed. According to the Housing Union of Verneda and Besòs, these are three families with minors in their care, who are now "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' path. 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 parties could present their cases, but they didn't, they threw us all out by pushing us," recounts Marta López, spokesperson for the union. There were shoves, rushes, shouts, and insults against the police. There were also object throws. "Can't you see there are children here? Don't you dare touch the children!", the residents gathered at the door repeated in front of the police cordon.

"A child should never have to experience this": affected families are asking for social housing

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

She and her husband 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 am afraid of what will happen – she becomes emotional—. I am not asking for any rent to be given to us, 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 have done nothing 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 are only offering us three nights in a shelter. Okay, I'll take it, but... and then what?", asks Antonio. He is unemployed and the family —who has a child under seven with severe autism— survives on the money Jenny makes doing nails for neighbors in the area.

Both of them assure that finding a job is not easy for them. "We don't have studies, and we regret that a lot, 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 a Gypsy", 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", the man retorts.

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 flats that are publicly owned, each case should be studied and the possibility of regularizing them. Now this has stopped being applied —argues López, spokesperson for 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 block, it is true, but this cannot happen by evicting others, pitting families against each other and telling them that if they do not have the flats it is because others are occupying them", they express from the union. "They do not have the flats ready because they have managed the whole thing horribly, setting impossible conditions for many which have led to these blocks being empty, in La Mina, for eight years, in the midst of a housing access crisis", assesses López.

The collective argues that there are "alternative" solutions to mass eviction, such as mobilizing empty housing, expanding public housing stock or, directly, regularizing the situation of the families in the blocks: "What is lacking is not tools, but political will".