Spain
Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca and Observatori DESC
PAH
Basically the objective of this eviction was to finish emptying this property, which is owned by an Israeli investment fund that bought it a few years ago in a very touristy neighborhood of Barcelona, near the Sagrada Familia. And what this fund wants to do is what we have been seeing during the last few years in Barcelona, which is to empty buildings, do some renovations and then rent or sell apartments to tourists or to people who have the possibility of paying high rents and/or eventually buying it at a higher price – speculating with real-estate.
About
our research project
The PAH (Platform of People Affected by Mortgages) is a movement that works on the right to housing. It’s based in Barcelona, but it has local points in many towns and cities all over Spain. The picture shows a forced eviction that took place recently, where four families who were living in a building with many empty apartments were evicted in the middle of the pandemic, with quite an aggressive police presence: at eight in the morning many policemen arrived to execute this eviction.
“We don’t consider it healthy for a family to live on the street; after having paid a mortgage for many years, the bank gets to keep the apartment and on top of (losing their house) the family is left with a debt and on the street. This is what we have been seeing here in Spain … evictions are very common, happening almost on a daily basis, and we therefore have a lot of work, we’re very busy with this issue right now.”
–Dalia, Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca
About
our story
PAH is a platform for people affected by mortgages, working in Barcelona, at the state level as well as the national level. It’s a coalition, a nonpartisan social movement: we don’t belong to any political party. And we are also free, we do not charge anything for the consultations. We provide advice on issues like mortgage problems, rental and housing problems. Our goal has always been to change the law in order to be able to stop evictions and to avoid that families end up on the street. What we consider important and essential is to change the law and that’s what we’re doing.
We don’t consider it healthy for a family to live on the street or that after having paid a mortgage for many years, the bank gets to keep the apartment and on top of (losing their house the family is left) with a debt and on the street. This is what we have been seeing here in Spain … evictions are very common, happening almost on a daily basis, and we therefore have a lot of work to do.
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Mining, Memory & Territory: Findings from Red Chimpu Warmi’s research
Summary of research findings from Red Chimpu Warmi in Bolivia. Key words: mining, memory and territory We focused on these issues due to the need that exists in the Jacha Marka Tapacarí Condor Apacheta (JMTCA) territory to have a dossier with specific information...
Impacts of Large-scale Rubber Concession on Women Dependent on Land and Natural Resources in Liberia
Summary of findings of Natural Women's Resource Platform (NRWP)'s research on the impacts of large scale rubber concessions on women in Liberia Key words: Lack of consultation, Food insecurity and water shortage, Destruction of traditional values Research methods...
Women, empowerment and homelessness: findings from PAH’s community led research
Summary of research findings from PAH - Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca in Barcelona, Spain. Leer el informe completo aquí Key words: Evictions, Women, Empowerment Data collection methods used: online survey, focus group discussions and interviews...
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