New law makes 'conflict' evictions easier, allows councils to use properties for social housing

Properties occupied by squatters where there is a "disturbance to coexistence" can be reallocated by local councils for use as social housing, after the Catalan parliament approved changes to the housing rights law and Civil Code on Wednesday. 

Councils will have the power to require big property owners (grans tenidors in Catalan – those that own more than 10 properties or a constructed surface area of more than 1,500 m2) to ensure occupied homes are empty within a period of thirty days, in cases where there is behavior that breaches "normal coexistence of the community," or "public order," or that "endangers the safety or integrity of the building." 

The legislative changes were proposed by an opposition party, Junts, formerly the junior partner in the pro-independence governing coalition before they withdrew. 

Pacts and votes 

Governing party Esquerra (ERC) along with the Socialists (PSC) negotiated that individuals that are big property owners would also be affected; Junts had originally wanted it to apply to companies only. 

They also negotiated that "disturbance to coexistence" is "rigorously defined," in order to avoid arbitrary evictions. 

Separately, Junts agreed with PSC and Ciudadanos to include reference to residents committees and neighborhood associations having the power to urge councils to act. They also established that the big property owners will have to bear the costs of the entire procedure. 

In the end, ERC also supported this amendment and the legislation was passed with the support of PSC, ERC, Junts, Ciudadanos and Vox. 

Left-wing parties CUP and En Comú Podem (ECP) voted against while the right-wing People's Party abstained. 

The new law means that councils can acquire "temporary use of the housing for a maximum period of seven years" and that they must "allocate it to social rental public policies." 

Debate 

Before voting against the proposal, CUP MP, Montserrat Vinyets, said there were already "many tools" to address the problem of occupied properties, while ECP's Susanna Segovia called it a "poorly made, poorly conceived law." 

But Junts' Marta Madrenas defended the legislation, saying: "there are cases where neighbors' lives are being made impossible." 

PSC MP Candela López said "the real reason" for occupied flats was "the existence of many empty houses and premises" and blamed big property owners for "neglecting" their properties. 

ERC's Pau Morales defended the amendments agreed as "positive," but Ciudadanos' Anna Grau criticized the law as "very poorly made" and "very loose," despite voting in favor.