After yesterday's housing protest

Barcelona had a major tenants’ strike in 1931. Is it possible today?

The idea is old, but it hasn’t been heard so strongly. At least in Spain. After the 13-O mass demonstration in Madrid yesterday, which aims to start the “key revolution” in housing rights, the rent strike has entered the public debate.

One occurred over 90 years ago in Spain. In recent decades, others have occurred in China, the US, Mexico, Canada, and Argentina to protect tenants’ rights against landlords. But… Its components are what? Most importantly, is it legal in Spain?

Their muscles flex. The Madrid protest yesterday under the slogan “Housing is a right, not a business” served several purposes. The main goal is to show how much an increasingly inaccessible real estate market worries (and angers) homebuyers and renters, especially in large cities.

Not surprising. Spanish society has been plagued by the CIS for some time. Yesterday’s Madrid protests with several tens of thousands of people waving banners and keys are a powerful reminder.

Clear messages. However, 13-O has left many readings. The housing issue has become especially painful for young people. They led yesterday’s protest. Quite understandable. If 50% of 18-34-year-olds lived in the family home in 2010, 66% do now.

According to Enalquiler, the average monthly income in Spain in September was 1,874 euros, with significant regional differences. This takes a large chunk (if not almost all) out of the salary of young people between 25 and 34, forcing them to share household expenses.

“Moving towards a rent strike” . The 13-O also showed that housing access issues have reached such a high point that 71% of Madrid’s tenants believe they will never become homeowners, threatening to lead to a new 15-M and becoming a top government issue. Madriders demanded the minister’s resignation yesterday.

The day left another idea, or call, floating around: raise the tone of the demands agenda. “We will begin to move towards a strike to stop paying rent,” said Valeria Racu, spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union of Madrid, one of many groups calling for the 13-O, yesterday.

A rent strike? Exactly. The term is absolutely clear. A rent strike is when tenants deliberately stop paying rent to exert pressure. Racu herself stated that a 50% rent reduction is desired. This idea has been proposed before.

Weeks before October 13, the union sent a clear message: “If a tenant stops paying, it’s her problem. The landlords are at fault if 10,000 tenants stop paying.”

“Prepare it neighbourhood by neighbourhood” . After the massive support for yesterday’s march, the group insisted on going further with pressure measures to improve tenant conditions. A clear premise: the sum of forces. Renters, look at us—thousands of us. Many of us have more power than any landlord or government when organised. We will prepare the rent strike neighbourhood by neighbourhood starting tomorrow “Last afternoon, the group cried.

But… Law says what? Million-dollar question. Since the concept entered the mobilisation calendar, it has dragged on for weeks. Constitution has the answer. Article 28 recognises the right to strike “of workers to defend their interests.” The scope of that right matters. Experts warn that in Spain, a tenant stopping payment would not be a legal right.

“There would be no legal protection for the rights that a person has for going on strike, since there is no employment relationship between tenant and landlord,” Carlos III University Labour Law and Social Security professor Amanda Moreno told Newtral a few weeks ago. “Strike means to stop work. To avoid confusion, rent nonpayment should be called something else since it’s not related to labour rights.”

“If 10,000 tenants stop paying…” In its messages, the Tenants’ Union of Madrid suggests that joining forces is key to the measure’s success. If a tenant stops paying, she’s responsible. If 10,000 tenants refuse to pay, landlords are to blame “it recalls. Those who join this initiative risk civil (not criminal) consequences like landlord lawsuits. They could be evicted if necessary.

“A complicated incentive .” If the call spreads “neighbourhood by neighbourhood,” as the Tenants’ Union of Madrid encourages, it will have to overcome the fear of not paying the owner. According to El Mundo, twenty-somethings Lucía and Ana, who live in rented housing in Getafe and attended the Madrid march, acknowledged this yesterday. “It can be an incentive to stop the rise, but it is difficult to do because perhaps as a tenant you run the risk of losing your home for not paying.”

After yesterday’s housing protest

Barcelona had a major tenants’ strike in 1931. Is it possible today?

By b0oua

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