Calahorra building collapse exposes illegal housing racket

Calahorra building collapse exposes illegal housing racket

Last Thursday, two floors of a property at 12 Estrella Street in Calahorra collapsed. Fourteen people lived there, all in an irregular status. The City Hall had declared the building a ruin, yet the owner—a 60-year-old Spaniard arrested afterwards—rented it without contracts for €250 per head. Or precisely, €150 for six square meters. Simple math: 14 tenants at €250 yield €3,500 monthly, off the books, for a property that should have been demolished.

The two occupants present during the collapse escaped unharmed thanks to neighbors' help. Firefighters, Civil Guard, Local Police, and an Urban Planning technician responded. The municipal assessment: no risk to adjacent properties. Number 18 on the same street had seen a nearly identical incident in August 2023: a 61-year-old woman died when her ceiling caved in. She shared the home with five others. Then, the Council demolished the building. After the body was found.

The business figures: €3,500 monthly in cash

The Calahorra case is not isolated. It is the tip of an iceberg called the black market for housing. The owner earned €3,500 a month—undeclared, no property tax, no insurance—for a building that should have been torn down. Per unit, each occupant paid €250, a price that in the formal market only covers a shared room in a mid-sized city. But here there were no rooms: just ruins shared by 14 people. A perfect business for the landlord, who also saved any maintenance costs.

The news, reported by La Rioja, revealed a pattern: on August 28, 2023, at number 18 of the same street, a woman died from a ceiling collapse. That property was also dilapidated, housed several people (six), and was also demolished—but only after the death. The inevitable question hangs in the air: how many more must die before action is taken?

The enabling system: declared ruin, ignored paper

That a town hall declares a building a ruin but fails to evict or demolish it is not bureaucratic oddity: it is a sentence for tenants. In this case, the ruin declaration was public, but the owner continued renting. Post-collapse municipal inspection determined no risk to neighboring homes, but the damaged property was sealed off and occupants left homeless. Again, the Administration reacts post-mortem—or post-collapse—not beforehand.

The problem is not local. Data from Articulo14 indicates Spain leads the increase in overcrowding in the EU, with rates nearly doubling in six years. The phenomenon has two legs: demand for cheap housing from migrants arriving without resources, and supply from unscrupulous owners turning ruins into multi-occupancy apartments. The third leg, lack of municipal control, completes the stool.

Beyond the landlord: the overcrowding business

Public debate often focuses on the "usurer," but the business is broader. On one hand, the local owner rents the ruin. On the other, human trafficking networks—operating from Segarro, Algeria, or Senegal—bring tenants to the door. In between, NGOs and administrations that, according to various analyses, fail to address root causes. Caritas, for example, warns of overcrowding in the periphery and calls for more social housing, but omits the link to migration policies that do not generate sufficient integration conditions.

The result are scenarios like Calahorra's: people living in conditions meeting no standards, paying for uninhabitable space, with the constant risk of the ceiling falling on them. At number 18 of that street, it already peine. At number 12, by seconds, there were no fatalities. The pattern is as clear as the inaction that perpetuates it.