Shantytowns Return to Barcelona Amid Housing Crisis

Shantytowns return to Barcelona: history repeats itself

Are shantytowns back in Barcelona? The question feels like historical déjà vu, but recent images of informal settlements in the metropolitan area make comparisons with Argentina's "villas" seem less exaggerated to part of public opinion.

Although there are no updated official figures, testimonies place the phenomenon in various parts of the city and its periphery. The Can Cervera settlement, between Hospitalet and Esplugues, is a precedent many remember: nearly a hundred shacks, with bars and small informal businesses, active for a decade before eviction. That ended with residents protesting for "housing solutions," a demand repeated almost word-for-word today.

The Montjuïc mirror and the eradication of the 90s

This is not the first time Barcelona has dealt with shanty towns. In Montjuïc, shacks existed before, during, and after the 1992 Olympic Games. The official version claims the Olympics cleared the mountain; those who know it well argue that settlements merely moved and never fully disappeared. In the 90s, shantytowns were considered eradicated in many cities thanks to public housing delivery, and numerous Barcelona residents received social housing (VPO) in that process.

The memory of Vallecas in Madrid serves as a counterpoint: shantytowns were visible from the highway, and TV of the era turned them into settings for series and news stories. That was overcome, or so it seemed. The difference now is that the economic context is different: housing prices in Barcelona have reached levels that exclude middle incomes, not just the lowest.

From €5,000 apartments to occupied land

The circulating data point exemplifying the Barcelona market is devastating: rental apartments at €5,000 per month. Faced with this reality, the shack appears as the only housing solution for those without access to the market or social rent. The paradox is that the occupied land is usually public, turning occupants into offenders and the administration into an emergency manager that never quite arrives.

Here two readings intersect. One argues the problem is housing policy: without affordable supply, anyone with low income will end up in an informal settlement. The other points to migration pressure and public service saturation as triggers, arguing that mass arrivals have exceeded the system's absorption capacity. Both currents agree on one thing: the current model does not work, and the outcome—social flats, evictions, or permanent shantytowns—depends on a political decision that is not forthcoming.

The DANA precedent and the M-30 memory

The reappearance of shantytowns in Barcelona has revived comparisons with what peine after the Valencia DANA storm, where improvised settlements also appeared. And in Madrid, the construction of the M-30 ring road forced the eviction of people camping on public land, an episode recently highlighted by a film. History shows that shantytowns are not a new phenomenon nor exclusive to immigration: in the 60s, Andalusian migrants built shacks in Barcelona and Madrid. The difference is that then the response was public housing, and today there is not even consensus on the diagnosis.

Meanwhile, the city that boasts cutting-edge urban models once again has shantytowns. And the official discourse remains determined to say they are an anecdote. Until the anecdote occupies a park.