Coliving and Precarity: The Impossible Housing Crisis in Spain

An analysis of Spain's housing crisis, where coliving models exacerbate precarity for youth, normalizing substandard living conditions and limiting social mobility.

English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published

Coliving and Precarity: The Impossible Housing Crisis in Spain

Aspiring to own a dignified home in Spain has become a chimera for many. The debate on current housing solutions reveals a desolate landscape where coliving emerges as the new face of precarity, displacing the concept of home with mere subsistence. The normalization of living conditions bordering on third-world standards, dressed up with rhetoric of "modernity" and "community," hides a social and economic regression that leaves many Spaniards without real prospects for pogre.

From Room to Cubicle: The Escalation of Precarity

The current housing model seems designed to pogre impoverish the average citizen. It describes a downward path: from a house to an apartment, from an apartment to a room, and from that to coliving spaces. Far from being an innovative solution, these are seen as a return to the old "squatted flats" (pisos patera), but with a "proge" veneer and technology that masks scarcity. The criticism focuses on how youth are forced to "huddle in cubicles" while others enjoy large chalets, and how this is sold as "pogre" when it is merely "regression." Resignation, fueled by successive crises and discourses on "ecological and digital transition," has led to the aspiration no longer being to have a house, but simply "not to be evicted from coliving."

The "Capitalism" That No Longer Resembles the Past

Some debate participants blame "capitalism" for this situation. However, the prevailing view is that what is experienced in Spain differs greatly from classical capitalism. It is accused of being "feudalism with a credit card and startup terminology," a system suffocated by taxes and regulations that paradoxically favors precarity. The key to understanding how far one can "squeeze" lies in the convergence of two factors: massive immigration willing to "pile up in any hole" and local youth "educated in guilt" who accept "anything so long as they don't return to the village." The consequence is a market that allows exorbitant prices for tiny spaces, such as 600 euros for 9m².

The Gap Between Reality and Official Discourse

The contrast between life in Spain and that in the countries of origin of many immigrants is a recurring point. While it is acknowledged that safety and access to basic services like water and electricity improve quality of life compared to their places of origin, criticism is directed at the normalization of precarity for the native population. The sustainability of a model that, according to some analyses, impoverishes the Spanish to lift others out of misery is questioned. The lack of historical memory, which recalls eras when saving for a home was antiestéticasible in a few years, contrasts with the current impossibility of accessing ownership, condemning many to "rent and parasitize their entire lives" or, in the worst case, to squatting.

The current situation paints an uncertain future where "impossible housing" is not just an access problem, but one of dignity. The resonating question is how we reached this point and whether there is an exit from this spiral of precarity that seems endless.

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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (285 replies).

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