Barcelona tenants launch rent strike over mass evictions
Tenants in Barcelona launched a rent strike after a Dutch firm bought their building to convert it to shared housing.
A Dutch investment company bought Casa de la Papallona apartment building in Barcelona in 2024. The company planned to convert it to co-living shared housing.
Residents got notices that leases would not renew and they would have to move. On 15 October, Corina Cost and three other tenants launched a rent strike and refused to leave.
Barcelona's rents have risen more than 50 per cent in the past decade. Social housing makes up just 2 per cent of the city's stock.
The government responded with emergency measures. These include bans on evicting vulnerable people and restrictions on corporate property purchases.
- 18 years
- Cost's tenancy
- 40 per cent of her income
- Olesti's rent burden
- 30 years
- One resident's tenure
- More than 50 per cent
- Rent increase over decade
Why it mattersThe housing crisis is pushing long-term residents out of their own city, forcing governments to intervene.
AustraliaNo direct Australian effect yet, but Barcelona's housing reforms mirror debates Australian cities face.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 2 h ago
