Spain's Aena restricts Barajas access, leaving homeless outreach groups out
Aena now requires a boarding pass to enter Barajas airport in Madrid and has blocked NGOs from helping 421 homeless people, many of them workers priced out of housing.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Aena shuts Barajas to the homeless and keeps NGOs out
Madrid's Barajas airport has become a makeshift shelter for 421 homeless people. The housing crisis is pushing some workers to sleep in the terminal, but Aena's response has hardly been to open a shelter: it now demands a ticket to enter and is preventing NGOs from handing out food. The reasoning, according to Bokatas' coordinator, is that the food creates a "magnet effect".
The controversy has two fronts. Those who believe the airport's image cannot afford mattresses at boarding gates and advocate evicting the homeless and relocating them to shelters. And those who point out that many of Barajas' homeless are workers in Madrid who cannot find a flat at a reasonable price. Political management looms: some blame the central Government, others the Community of Madrid.
And that is where the analysis gets tangled. Is it a public order problem or a housing one? Should Aena, a state-owned company, shoulder a problem that is not strictly its remit? The comparison with European airports, where homelessness is better managed, appears as an uncomfortable reference. The reality is that neither eviction nor the blockade solves the underlying issue: an airport mirrors the country's housing emergency.
Madrid's Barajas airport has become a makeshift shelter for 421 homeless people. The housing crisis is pushing some workers to sleep in the terminal, but Aena's response has hardly been to open a shelter: it now demands a ticket to enter and is preventing NGOs from handing out food. The reasoning, according to Bokatas' coordinator, is that the food creates a "magnet effect".
The controversy has two fronts. Those who believe the airport's image cannot afford mattresses at boarding gates and advocate evicting the homeless and relocating them to shelters. And those who point out that many of Barajas' homeless are workers in Madrid who cannot find a flat at a reasonable price. Political management looms: some blame the central Government, others the Community of Madrid.
And that is where the analysis gets tangled. Is it a public order problem or a housing one? Should Aena, a state-owned company, shoulder a problem that is not strictly its remit? The comparison with European airports, where homelessness is better managed, appears as an uncomfortable reference. The reality is that neither eviction nor the blockade solves the underlying issue: an airport mirrors the country's housing emergency.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (13 replies).
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