Thousands demonstrate in Barcelona against housing prices

Several thousand people demonstrated on Saturday in Barcelona at the call of tenant associations and collectives to denounce the difficulties of access to housing and demand a general reduction in the level of rents in Spain's second city. The demonstrators, supported by several left-wing parties and by the Workers' Commissions (CCOO) and UGT unions, gathered at the end of the afternoon in the center of Barcelona behind a large banner calling for “dignified housing for all”. “Today a new political cycle begins regarding housing”assured journalists Carme Arcarazo, spokesman for the Catalan Tenants' Union (Sindicat de Llogateres), the main organization at the origin of this rally.

“It is not possible for investors to come to our cities and play with apartments like Monopoly”she continued. “Today we came to say that it’s over”particularly to “rentiers who steal half of our salaries”. The demonstrators are therefore demanding a reduction in rents of around 50%, the establishment of indefinite rental contracts and a ban on speculative housing sales. Otherwise, they pose the threat of “rent strike”.

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Increase in social housing

This demonstration echoes that organized on October 13 in Madrid, which brought together at least 22,000 people with similar slogans, in a context of strong tension in all major Spanish cities in the face of soaring rents. According to the real estate portal Idealista, the price of a rental square meter has jumped by 82% in the country over the last ten years, a rate five times higher than that of the average salary, which has increased by 17%, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

This situation pushed the executive to pass a flagship law on housing in early 2023, providing for an increase in the construction of social housing, rent control in tense areas and penalties for owners leaving their homes unoccupied. But this text has not made it possible at this stage to stem the rise in rents, particularly in large cities, with certain measures of the law being the subject of a standoff between the executive and the regions supposed to put them in place. implemented, more than 18 months after its adoption.