First eviction stopped by the 'Maricarmen decree'

BarcelonaThe anti-eviction decree approved by the Spanish government following the Maricarmen case is already having its first effects and has allowed for the suspension of an eviction in Sant Andreu. The eviction of Macarena, known as Maca, a neighborhood resident, "has just been suspended in court after a document was filed by the legal team of the Tenants' Union of Catalonia, demanding the application of the new decree approved by the Council of Ministers," the Union reported.

The decree, published this Wednesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), is already in force. Its future, however, depends on the validation by the parties in Congress. This Friday, both this first decree and the one regarding the automatic renewal of leases will be put to a vote. After the 'yes' to the measures announced by Podemos, the vote is now in the hands of Junts and the PNV.

"This is the first case we are aware of where this has happened," said Aragonès regarding the suspension of this morning's process. In fact, the judicial committee did not even arrive, and according to the Mossos, the police operation for this eviction has been cancelled. As soon as they learned of the suspension, the people gathered celebrated and moved to another neighborhood in Barcelona, specifically to Trinitat Vella, to prevent another eviction scheduled for today.

This Thursday's was the second attempt to evict Macarena. According to the Tenants' Union and the Sant Andreu union, she is a woman in a situation of vulnerability, without residential alternatives, and with a mental health diagnosis. She has lived in this apartment since 2017, with a verbal agreement with the landlord, that is, without a contract. When she moved in, they agreed on a price of 750 euros—which the landlord collected in cash—but two years later, when she asked to register as a resident, the landlord agreed in exchange for increasing the rent by 100 euros, up to 850. In 2024, the landlord wanted to increase the rent again, and Maca asked to formalize the contract in return. The landlord only offered her a room rental contract, but for the same price, a proposal that Maca rejected.

The unions stress that "from that moment on, a period of harassment and blackmail began to get her to abandon the home". The landlord, they assert, had threatened to change the lock, had attempted to remove her registration, and had reduced the home's electrical power to a minimum, which was already in "poor condition".

Both the Tenants' Union and the Sant Andreu Union have tried to open a path for negotiation, but the landlord, they indicate, has repeatedly refused. The case has also passed through the hands of the Housing Office, which proposed a subsidy to the property owner to renovate the apartment in exchange for incorporating it into the City Council's pool, an option that remained unanswered.

Shortly before announcing the halting of Maca's eviction, the spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, Enric Aragonès, said that the parties intending to overturn the decrees should "have on their conscience the deaths that are occurring," following the suicides of people who have been left homeless. He also made a call to join the encampment for the right to housing at Plaça Catalunya after the pot-banging protest called for this Thursday evening in town squares. In the case of Barcelona, the action will be at Plaça Sant Jaume.