Juanjo stays in Ciutat Meridiana: the cooperative purchase saves a tenant for the first time

Barcelona"For five years I've been waiting to see if I get any notifications, if someone knocks on the door, or if someone comes up the stairs to kick me out. Now that's over and I feel privileged. But it shouldn't be like this." This is Juanjo speaking, a historic activist from Meridian City, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Barcelona. Its history shows the housing crisisHaving experienced all the stages of this problem firsthand, today, however, he has reason to celebrate: the Sostre Cívic cooperative and the Tenants' Union have announced their first joint purchase, that of the apartment where he lives.neighbor and activist. With the acquisition of the property, the organizations emphasize, a double objective is achieved: eviction is permanently prevented, and the apartment is guaranteed to be part of the public system, for social and affordable use.

Although the cooperative had already purchased other apartments to remove them from the speculative market, until now they had always been empty. Juanjo's, therefore, is the first property they have acquired with a tenant already living there. And for the organizations, it is a "pilot test," but a demonstration that it can become a "useful" measure for other blogs in this situation. "It's a relief; I've spent five years of my life fighting for this," Juanjo told ARA.

This is just the happy ending of a long story. Divarian, the former owner of Juanjo's apartment, which belongs to the Cerberus investment fund, I had already tried to evict him on several occasionsLast May, the judicial delegation arrestedin extremisThe planned eviction was thwarted. Now, neighborhood and union resistance has led to a solution. The Techo Cívico cooperative—a non-profit organization that promotes access to housing through the cooperative housing model with right of use—has purchased the apartment in Cerberus for €54,000 and has become the new owner of the property, located in the Font Magués industrial park in Ciutat Meridiana.

This purchase is seen as a double victory, not only because it frees Juanjo from eviction, but also because it transforms the apartment into a protected asset: the resident will pay an affordable monthly fee as a member of the cooperative and will be able to live in his home permanently for a price below market value. The property is no longer owned by an investment fund and "will never again be subject to the logistics that led Juanjo to this situation," states Carme Arcarazo, spokesperson for the Tenants' Union. In fact, Sostre Cívic will own it for the next 75 years, and after that time, the property will remain in the public domain.

"The first of many"

The purchase of the apartment was made within the framework of a strategic alliance between Techo Cívico and the Tenants' Union, signed in 2023. As Arcarazo explains, the objective of this union is "to transform the tenant struggle into a cooperative model and remove housing from the realm of speculation." Both entities insist that cooperative housing is a real alternative to reverse the housing crisis, and they intend to influence public policies so that it becomes a tool for expanding the affordable housing stock. "Cooperative housing can bear good fruit, and we intend for this to be the first of many joint purchases," says Yabel Pérez, a member of the Techo Cívico board and a project development specialist. The purchase was made possible thanks to a €100,000 loan from the Catalan Finance Institute (ICF), subsidized by the Catalan Housing Agency. Pérez also emphasizes that "this is an instrument that everyone can join," and encourages other organizations and city councils to use it to expand the affordable housing stock and protect tenants' right to housing. However, the cooperative is calling for increased public funding so that these types of purchases can continue, since "with €100,000 it's very difficult to buy apartments in Barcelona or other areas with housing shortages." The organizations are also requesting that tenants' right of first refusal be applied to facilitate the transformation of buildings owned by funds or multiple owners into cooperatives, as they have done with Juanjo's apartment. Both Techo Cívico and the Union point out that the mass construction proposed by the government is not the best solution to the housing crisis, and therefore propose mobilizing and acquiring existing apartments as the most immediate solution. Many families continue to resist losing their homes. This cooperative purchase brings a ray of hope to all those in vulnerable situations, and Juanjo encourages them to fight "to the end, with perseverance, because you can always turn things around, just like I did."