Barcelona homeless evictions have displaced over 400 people in ten months. Consequently, the city’s largest tent encampment, previously located in the Zona Franca district, has been dismantled. Its inhabitants are now scattered across surrounding industrial areas.
Pest control teams have begun work on the flowerbeds of Calle Número 2, where approximately 175 people had been living. Following the clearance, which officials justified on sanitary grounds, the former residents have simply moved a few hundred metres away. Tents have reappeared on adjacent verges, amongst bushes by the Ronda del Litoral ring road, and directly opposite the headquarters of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB).
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A Cycle of Dispersion
The pattern has become increasingly familiar over the past year. As concentrations of rough sleepers increase in public spaces, the administrative response has largely been one of dispersion rather than resolution. Barcelona homeless evictions and clean-up operations break up large settlements, forcing individuals to constantly relocate.
During the recent operation in Zona Franca, municipal police officers (Guardia Urbana) arrived in white overalls, masks, and gloves to clear the area. Marian, a young Bolivian woman living in the encampment, described the scene.
“One of the officers said that, for now, they would let us stay [nearby], but we had to find a place with higher walls in front so we wouldn’t be seen as much,” Marian explained. “He also said we couldn’t have so many tables and chairs everywhere, that this couldn’t look like a campsite.”
Displaced groups have now re-established themselves on the slopes past a nearby roundabout. The density is high, with dozens of tents packed together alongside a heavy haulage route. “On this side, we Latinos have settled, and further over there are the Maghrebis,” Marian added, noting the fragile coexistence in the area.
Record Numbers and ‘Nomadic’ Lives
According to data compiled by La Vanguardia, at least 405 people have been displaced in seven separate municipal operations over the last ten months. This creates a nomadic existence for the city’s most vulnerable.
Earlier this summer, municipal cleaning crews, supported by police, cleared tents from the Ciutadella park, displacing around 50 people. Many moved to other green spaces like Estació del Nord or Joan Miró park, only to face further evictions following neighbourhood complaints. Similar discreet clearances have occurred on the slopes of Montjuïc and near the Sant Antoni market.
Current estimates suggest there are approximately 2,000 rough sleepers in Barcelona-a record figure. Under the Calatrava bridge near the Sagrera construction site, residents describe the precariousness of their situation. Roger and Lalo, from Peru, explained that they ended up on the street after losing their rented rooms due to unstable, black-market employment.
Political Deadlock amid Housing Crisis
The visibility of the crisis presents a stark irony. While the new ‘nomads’ of Zona Franca were searching for a new place to pitch their tents on Tuesday, thirty local mayors met nearby to approve the Metropolitan Urban Master Plan (PDUM) that envisions 220,000 new homes in the metropolitan area, though the initiative has already spent a decade in processing.
Local residents express frustration at the lack of a cohesive strategy. Members of the Port Vell Neighbourhood Association voiced concern over the dispersion tactics: “Where they were, they were fine. They weren’t so close to inhabited areas. We don’t understand why they disperse them like this without any plan.”
Mayor Jaume Collboni’s government insists the City Council lacks the resources to tackle the surge in homelessness alone, calling it a national issue requiring support from the Catalan Generalitat and the central state government. However, the administration faces criticism from all sides. Former deputy mayor Gerardo Pisarello has challenged the legality and ethics of the evictions in Congress, while the far-right party Vox has demanded the complete dismantling of settlements and the deportation of undocumented migrants.
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