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Housing activists flexed muscle with a protest march in Barcelona on Saturday, threatening a rental payment strike unless prices are reduced by 50pc.
On Saturday, 23 November 2024, Barcelona saw a large demonstration as housing activists demanded a 50pc reduction in rent prices and immediate government intervention to tackle the city’s housing crisis. The protest, organised by the Sindicat de Llogaters (Tenants’ Union) drew an estimated 22,000 participants according to the local police. Organisers, however, claim the turnout was closer to 170,000, which would make it one of the largest housing protests in Catalonia’s history. Similar demonstrations have already taken place in cities like Madrid.
Unaffordable rents
The demonstration highlights two key points: First, the growing discontent in Spanish cities over the lack of affordable housing; and second, the effective organisation of Spain’s hard-left housing activists who capitalise on this discontent. They frame the debate as “greedy landlords” and “speculators” exploiting decent “hardworking” families and “vulnerable” people, with no consideration of supply and demand.
“It can’t be that investors come to our cities and play with apartments like it’s Monopoly,” says Carme Arcarazo, spokeswoman for the hard-left Sindicat de Llogaters, pictured below enjoying the limelight. Activists like her argue that investors / speculators and tourist rentals are driving up prices, making it increasingly difficult for local residents to find affordable homes.
“Housing is not a business, it is a right,” says Marta Espriu, spokesperson for the Congrés d’Habitatge de Catalunya. This attitude comes from the fact that the Spanish Constitution declares that all citizens have a right to “dignified” housing without saying how it should be delivered.
Impact on young people
Young people were a key demographic at the demonstration, representing a generation particularly affected by the housing crisis. Many have been forced to delay independent living due to soaring rents. Home ownership among young adults is declining, and a growing percentage are living in precarious conditions.
According to recent data, 66% of Spaniards aged 18-34 were living with their parents in 2022, a significant rise from 53% in 2008. This statistic reflects not only the high cost of renting but also the broader challenges facing young people in achieving financial independence.
“We want to pay according to the salaries of those who work and live here, not digital nomads,” said one protester, reflecting the frustration of many locals who feel excluded from the housing market by wealthier, often foreign, renters and buyers.
Demands
The Sindicat de Llogaters demands that the government take the following steps immediately:
- A 50% reduction in rental prices
- Restrict property purchases to home-buyers, and ban investors
- Make all rental contracts indefinite, meaning owners can never get the tenants out
- Recovery (read expropriation) of empty properties or those rented on a short or mid-term basis
Threat of a rent strike
The Sindicat de Llogaters says it plans to organise a rent strike if their demands are not met. A collective refusal to pay rents, the union argues, would significantly pressure landlords and policymakers to implement meaningful reforms.
“Our patience has run out,” explains a statement at the Sindicat de Llogaters website. “This November 23rd, we will take to the streets. We announce that starting today, an organizational process begins to fill the streets. We will work block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, and city by city toward a strike to drastically lower rents once and for all. If we stop paying rent, their business collapses! If they don’t lower the rent, we will lower it ourselves!”
“If we unite, we have much more power than any politician or landlord,” said Arcarazo.
A boycott of rental payments would be a significant escalation of the conflict between tenants and landlords, and would likely backfire on tenants participating in the action by giving landlords grounds for eviction.
The Sindicat promises further protests and collective actions in the coming months until their demands are met.
