The Bac de Roda settlement, which caught fire on Tuesday, has been evacuated.

BarcelonaThe day after the fire that caused two minor injuries, the Guardia Urbana deployed a special operation on Wednesday morning to evacuate the shantytown settlements located under the Calatrava bridge In Barcelona, ​​next to the Sagrera construction site. The settlement is located on the corner of Bac de Roda and Huelva streets. Several officers—who are coordinating the operation—have been deployed to the scene, along with vans from the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), fire trucks from the Barcelona Fire Department, personnel from the Social Emergency and Urgent Care Center (CUESB), and cleaning services from the Barcelona City Council. Around fifty people live in squalid conditions in this area, according to data from the Sant Andreu housing union. Municipal sources confirmed on Tuesday that there are also minors among these families. The operation took place a day after the fire and was prompted, as is often the case, by a Fire Department report concluding that there is a "very serious risk" to the people living there and that action must be taken "urgently."

Residents of the settlement and surrounding streets were startled on Tuesday morning when several explosions woke them. Shortly afterward, a large column of fire and smoke engulfed six of the shacks on this plot of land, owned by Adif (the Spanish railway infrastructure manager), which is located next to the Sagrera construction site.

In recent months, coexistence in the area had become more tense due to the number of people and shacks on the plot of land, the accumulation of filth, and conflicts. "It started with just a few shacks, but in the last year or year and a half, this place has become full," Ángel explained to ARA. "The truth is, I try not to walk through here at night because it scares me, and besides, with all the accumulated filth, there are enormous rats," María Dolores asserted. "We feel powerless and angry," added Jaume, who claims that some of the people occupying the plot "basically steal."

Changing Homelessness

The census of homelessness does not provide a profile of those who live on the streets or in substandard housing, but, according to social organizations, in many cases the lack of residency permits and bureaucratic obstacles preventing their regularization force these people to find a place to survive in a city where there are increasingly fewer vacant lots. In total, the number of homeless people currently counted in Barcelona is... about sixty settlements of shacks and more than 500 people living in shacks or occupied premises, in addition to the 1,500 who survive outdoors.

Friends of the Fourth World Movement has been supporting people living in industrial buildings for 25 years. According to the organization's director, David Espinós, police and urban planning pressure forces them to move frequently, and many families choose to go to industrial parks in the metropolitan area, where they are more "hidden and invisible" to both the police and to neighbors and social services. For this reason, he criticizes the policy of clearing a settlement, arguing that it does not solve the problem of homelessness but rather "spreads or concentrates it" because it never addresses the root of the problem.

Espinós emphasizes how the landscape of homelessness has changed in recent years. As vacant lots and industrial buildings disappear, the people who lived there occupy disused commercial premises, so they no longer have a suitable space to store the scrap metal they collect from the streets, which, for most, is their only source of income. Despite social shortcomings, Barcelona is one of the few cities that has a program and specific services for the homeless. However, Espinós calls for more "coordination between administrations and services" to guide families through the processes for finding help.