The situation in the La Mina neighborhood, in Sant Adrià de Besòs, has flared up again with the reoccupation of two of the three public housing units that had been boarded up last week. These apartments are part of a set of 58 dwellings occupied since 2017, which are undergoing a phased mass eviction.
According to some residents, one apartment was reoccupied last Thursday and another on Saturday. Sources from one of the institutions involved in the Consorci de La Mina have confirmed these events, and the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan Police) have reported a new occupation on Saturday afternoon. The two single mothers with minor children who were evicted on Thursday have moved back into these properties, arguing that the shelters offered are not safe spaces for their children.
The security measures implemented, such as anti-squatting doors and private guards, have not prevented residents from regaining control of the apartments. One resident explains that the guards left without incident and that they were able to access the apartments relatively easily. Subsequently, officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Local Police of Sant Adrià arrived at the scene, where the occupants requested a negotiation table with the administration to regularize their situation.
The occupants have requested that the pace of evictions scheduled until the end of the year be slowed down, warning that if solutions are not offered, "we will go to war." They have also promised not to reoccupy the last apartment boarded up this Thursday. Last week, during a police intervention, stones and eggs were thrown at the headquarters of the Consorci de La Mina, which had reported the occupations nine years ago.
The Department of Social Rights and the Sant Adrià City Council have indicated that the recovered apartments will be offered to residents of the building on Venus street, which is pending demolition. They also assure that cases with insufficient income will be referred to the emergency table to study affordable housing assistance. However, some sources suggest that certain cases do not meet the vulnerability requirements.
Institutions of the Consorci de La Mina have reported alleged resales and illegal subletting of the occupied apartments. The occupants, for their part, propose offering social rent to vulnerable individuals and helping to identify those who are taking advantage of the situation. They anticipate that the situation will continue as a "cat and mouse game" as long as the evictions persist.
