Illegal drug dealing, drugs, and filth in Sant Antoni: "Either we report it now or it will get worse."

BarcelonaIllegal street vending, drugs on public streets, and skyrocketing filth. This is what many residents and shopkeepers in Barcelona's Sant Antoni neighborhood have been experiencing for months. "We've reached the limit: either we report it now or it will get worse. We want a political reaction," say Sant Antoni Encants, one of the neighborhood associations that issued a letter on Monday to the Eixample and Ciutat Vella city councils to express their discontent over the "deterioration it is suffering." In it, they detail that the increase in uncivil behavior affects neighborhood coexistence and, in turn, has a direct impact on local businesses.

The letter states that on some occasions, fish and vegetables have been sold—without a license or health inspection—in the vicinity of the Sant Antoni Market. This bothers the downtown merchants because it gives a "bad image" to the area. The letter issued to the city councils also denounces the sale of objects (taken from containers) on the Ronda Sant Pau road, which the ARA has been able to verify, and merchant associations claim it has become a common practice on many evenings.

"We shopkeepers are on the street level. If this space doesn't provide security for people, we won't have customers," laments Jordi Arias, president of Sant Antoni Comerç (SAC). He is referring to the presence of homeless people, drug addicts, or people with alcohol problems on the doorsteps of establishments. The president of the SOM Sant Antoni Shopkeepers' Union, Lídia Núñez, comments that they decided to send the letter to "say enough" and believes that incivility is becoming normalized: "In recent months, syringes have appeared in playgrounds more frequently, and we are seeing more and more people using narcotics." The text describes this as a "direct consequence of situations of vulnerability without support networks or treatment."

For Imma, who works in a shop near Ronda Sant Antoni, the neighborhood has gotten worse since the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, as she says problems related to a lack of resources and mental health have worsened. She also complains that since containers—which used to be across the street—were placed in front of the shop where she works, the space has become a catchment area where a lot of dirt accumulates. She also reports that drug addicts vomit or defecate outside her shop and have also been robbed: "We've even been threatened with knives in the store."

After publicly denouncing this situation on social media, the City Council's response was to return the containers to their previous location, a solution he considers insufficient. "We have a systemic problem in the city that dates back many years, not from recent governments," he explains. Regarding homelessness, he points to real estate speculation as an aggravating factor, because it has made access to housing very difficult. "These homeless people should be able to access jobs and live a decent life, but it's a structural problem, and we're already behind schedule," he concludes.

Long-term solutions

Although the commercial entities that the ARA has contacted agree on "not stigmatizing poverty" and addressing homelessness from a "social perspective", the general situation in the neighborhood has also raised some complaints and discontent among residents. A few weeks ago, someone posted a letter on several blogs announcing the time to address issues such as "growing insecurity, urban deterioration and problems of coexistence." Shortly after, a neighbor issued a statement entitled Why I don't want to sign the letter I found stuck to the walls of every house, which also went viral, where he explained that he disagreed with the initiative because he considered the problem to be "structural."

Regarding this situation, the NGO De Veí a Veí—which is responsible for supporting residents at risk of social exclusion with all their basic needs—is asking that there be no "confrontation" between neighbors and that everyone respond to homelessness through institutions. They also emphasize that the neighborhood's social services are "underfunded."

Jordi Mir, a university professor who has worked on homelessness from a political philosophy perspective, admits that the presence of homeless people can often be bothersome for the local community. However, he, who is also a resident of Sant Antoni, explains that people have been living on the streets in the neighborhood for years and does not consider them to be "dangerous" due to their coexistence. That's why he's calling for more far-reaching political action and not taking the fast track approach, which often consists of kicking them out of their sleeping space without considering that the root of the problem is that they have nowhere else to go.

Along these lines, Sandra, a local resident, advocates avoiding raising further alarm about the "problems of a gentrified neighborhood": "The debates can't focus on analyzing who the homeless are and what they do, but rather on addressing the root of the problem. The current economic situation is what's leading to these drastic situations." The Sant Antoni Residents' Association shares the opinion of residents and organizations: "We ask that the City Council use social media to provide a more dignified situation for the most vulnerable," they explain in ARA.

Strengthening the service

The City Council assures that "for months" it has reinforced all the services working in Sant Antoni and has increased foot patrols by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and the Guardia Urbana (Urban Police) to counteract the "possible feeling of insecurity in the neighborhood." The entity, like some residents, claims that over the months it has been declining due to a lack of personnel and the feeling of "insecurity" has not disappeared. On the contrary, the City Council emphasizes that the crime rate is downward and trending downward. The City Council also states that it is currently working on an "operational plan to respond to the demands expressed by the entities," although the measures have not yet been specified.