The concept is not new, but it hasn’t been heard this strongly in a long time. At least in Spain. The hangover from 13-O has brought about, above all, a revolution, the massive demonstration in defense of the right to housing that took over the center of Madrid yesterday and aims to mark the beginning of what some are already calling the “key revolution”. The idea being discussed in public: the rent strike.

An incident occurred in Spain more than 90 years ago. And over the last few decades, others have emerged in China, the US, Mexico, Canada and Argentina, always as a crackdown measure to defend tenants’ interests against landlords. But… What exactly does it consist of? And most importantly, is it legal in Spain?

gain muscle. The protest held in Madrid yesterday with the slogan “Housing is not a job, it is a right” served many purposes. The most important of these is to make visible how worried (and angry) we are about the increasingly inaccessible real estate market. Both for those who want to own a house and for those looking for a rental apartment, especially in big cities.

This is not a surprise. CIS has been showing signs of being one of the biggest headaches of the Spanish society for some time now. But seeing tens of thousands of people shouting in the streets with banners and waving their keys, as in Madrid yesterday, is a particularly meaningful reminder.

clear messages. But 13-O left many other readings. For example, housing has become a particularly painful concern for young people. They led the protest yesterday. And this is understandable. Statistics tell us that in 2010, 50% of young people aged 18 to 34 still lived in the family home, now the figure is 66%.

According to Enalquiler, the average income in Spain stood at 1,874 euros a month in September – with deep differences between regions – which takes up a large (though not practically all) share of the salary of young people aged 25 to 34. so continuing to share household expenses.

“We are walking towards a rent strike”. 13-It also showed that difficulties in accessing housing have reached such extreme levels that 71% of renters in Madrid consider it impossible or unlikely that they will ever own a home; They are already threatening to lead to a new 15-M and have become a big problem for the Government. Yesterday, the resignation of the sector minister was directly demanded on the streets of Madrid.

In this environment, the day left one idea alive, or rather a call: The next step on the demand agenda is to raise the tone. Valeria Racu, spokesperson of the Madrid Tenants Union, one of the many organizations calling for 13-O, said yesterday, “We will start moving towards a strike to stop paying rent.”

Rent strike? Exactly the same. The term couldn’t be clearer. A rent strike is nothing more than an organized decision by tenants to stop paying all or part of their rent as a pressure measure. In this case, the aim is to achieve a significant reduction in rents, around 50%, as Racu admits. This is not the first time this idea has been expressed.

Weeks ago, with 13-O on the horizon, the union had already sent a clear message: “If one tenant stops paying, that’s the problem. If 10,000 tenants organize to not pay, the problem is the landlords.”

“Prepare neighborhood by neighborhood”. After the overwhelming support for yesterday’s march, the group once again insisted on the same idea: to go one step further with repressive measures to ensure improvements in tenants’ conditions. A proposition based on a clear proposition: the sum of forces. “To all the people living in rent: look at us, there are thousands of us. There are so many of us that, organized, we have more power than any landlord or government. Starting tomorrow, neighborhood by neighborhood, we will start preparing for a rent strike,” he shouted on the bus yesterday afternoon.

But… So what does the law say? Million dollar question. And it has been going on for several weeks now, since the concept began to enter the mobilization calendar. The answer to this is in the Constitution. To be more precise, in article 28, which recognizes the right to strike “in defense of the interests of workers.” The key is within the scope of this right. There are already experts who warn that in Spain the mobilization of those properties for which the tenant has stopped paying will not be recognized as a legal right.

“Since there is no employment relationship between the tenant and the owner, there will be no legal protection for the rights a person has for going on strike,” Amanda Moreno, professor of Labor and Social Security Law at Newtral, told Newtral a few weeks ago. Carlos III University. “The term strike means cessation of work. In this case, non-payment of rent is not related to workers’ rights, so it needs to be called something else to avoid confusion.”

“If 10,000 tenants stop paying…” In its messages, the Madrid Tenants Union actually states that one of the keys it relies on for the measure to be effective is the sum of forces. “If one tenant stops paying, that’s the problem. If 10,000 tenants decide not to pay, the problem is the landlords,” the organization recalls. In practice, those who decide to participate in this initiative will risk civil (rather than criminal) consequences, such as legal claims from homeowners. If necessary, they may face a worse scenario: the possibility of eviction.

“A complex incentive”. If the call takes root and is organized “neighborhood by neighbourhood” as promoted by the Madrid Tenants Union, the biggest challenge will be overcoming the fear of the possible consequences of not paying the landlord. They met yesterday World Lucía and Ana are two people in their twenties who live rented in Getafe and participated in the Madrid march. “There might be an incentive to stop the increase, but it’s hard to do because maybe as a tenant you run the risk of becoming homeless for not paying.”

There are even those who question whether the strike will solve fundamental problems of the housing market, such as the mismatch between supply and demand in major cities or the shortage of public parking spaces. “The rent strike may be an effective measure, but it does not solve the root of the problem because it stems from the lack of structural, public housing and makes it difficult for the administration to influence the real estate market.” ,” reasoned another young man on the march.

Is it a new measure? Like hell. In fact, Spain already hosted a major rent strike more than 90 years ago. This event took place in Barcelona in 1931, in a complex scenario at the social, economic and political level, with a number of factors that put the tenants in a complex situation.

Within a short period of time, Barcelona saw its population grow exponentially; The number of people living in the metropolitan area grew from 614,000 in 1900 to more than 1.5 million in the 1950s. how the economic situation is deteriorating.

After the explosion of the Universal Exhibition in 1929, and with the winds of the 29th economic crisis in the background, a “cruel crisis” emerged, in the Provincial Council’s own words, especially with rising inflation and unemployment. in construction. Housing began to swallow 40 percent of workers’ wages.

So how did it develop? Thus, following the first boycott of tenants in Barceloneta in the autumn of 1930, and largely thanks to the support of the unions, a tenant strike broke out in 1931. They demanded a 40 percent reduction in their rent. It is estimated that thousands of people supported the protest in August. Consistory assures that there were more than 100,000 working-class families and that the protests had a special weight in certain areas, such as the Cases Barates neighborhoods, especially the current Marina del Prat Vermell.

beyond barcelona. The strike had some successes, strengthening neighborhood solidarity and, above all, allowing thousands of tenant families in the Catalan capital to save on their rent, but it also drew a harsh reaction from the Property Chamber and the Housing Board. Chronicles tell of evacuations where Assault Guards threw furniture out of windows to prevent evacuated families from reoccupying their homes. Also, prisoners were taken to ships set up as prisons.

Barcelona is not the only example of a major rent strike. Similar actions were recorded in Chile, the USA, Mexico, Argentina or in Canada, where a similar protest took place in the city of Toronto a year ago.

Image | Fernando Jiménez Briz (Flickr)

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