A professor's letter to Collboni, Illa and Sánchez just before being evicted from Casa Orsola: “You are responsible”
“I am Josep, one of the neighbors of Casa Orsola, and after living on the property for 22 years, I have set the date for my eviction next Friday, January 31. But I have decided to stay peacefully at home when they come to kick me out.” With these words, Josep Torrent, a 49-year-old teacher, addressed the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni; to the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa; and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, a few days before his eviction.
If there is a property that symbolizes neighborhood resistance against housing speculation and gentrification, this is Casa Orsola, a modernist building in the Eixample neighborhood whose property they want to vacate.
The property was acquired by Lioness Inversiones, a Catalan real estate fund, when the Ada Colau government's intention to pedestrianize its street, Consell de Cent, was already known. Today that road is among the ten best in the world, according to the Time Out leisure guide, and the 19 remaining residents refuse to accept that they must leave.
Some of them have indefinite contracts, others expire in a few years and others are already out of contract, like Josep, but they continue living in their homes (paying their rent in court).
“If at the time of the purchase, there were 27 tenant families living in the two properties (between indefinite contracts and rentals of normal duration), for now there are only 18 inhabited apartments, 5 of which we have open judicial proceedings where our eviction is requested . In the apartments where they have managed to kick out our neighbors, seasonal rentals have been made at prices that triple what we pay. This is clear proof of what the intentions of the property are,” explains Josep in his letter to the political leaders.
His letter is the last gesture before the expulsion is carried out, which is scheduled for this Friday. But he himself assures that he no longer expects anything from Collboni, Illa and Sánchez. “If today it is possible and worthwhile to form a SICAV to save taxes, buy an entire building, expel the entire neighborhood, make seasonal rentals and triple your prices, it is because of the decisions you have made. They are responsible,” says Josep.
His is the first of the evictions to come, but this tenant has great support from society, mobilized by the Llogateres Union, which has called a rally in front of the property. “I know I'm not alone,” says Josep.
That of Casa Orsola is a paradigmatic example of the housing situation in Barcelona and has attracted great attention. A year after the change of ownership, and after several concentrations, failed attempts at negotiation and a recent and also failed mediation by the City Council, five of the residents of Casa Orsola have been out of contract for years. But they refuse to leave the farm.
