The Govern and social organisations manage to rehouse 120 people evicted from B9 in Badalona

The Govern de Cataluña and several social organisations have managed to temporarily rehouse 120 of the 180 vulnerable people who were evicted from the former B9 institute in Badalona during the Christmas climate emergency. The councillor for Drets Socials i Inclusió, Mònica Martínez Bravo, has pointed to the lack of response from Badalona City Council, stressing that the agreement reached made it possible to offer a housing alternative to most of those affected.

The pact, in which the Síndica de Greuges also took part, included those who had spent days sleeping under a bridge on the C-31, people who could not access the Mare de Déu de Montserrat parish due to pressure from neighbours and those who had occupied the former Can Bofí Vell shelter until Tuesday.

Martínez Bravo explained that around 60 people refused rehousing, attributing this decision to a lack of prior referral work by the City Council. According to the councillor, the council attended only to the most extreme cases, covering barely 16% of the vulnerable people identified at B9.

During an interview on La Hora, the councillor again criticised municipal inaction regarding Can Bofí Vell, which closed a few months ago. She recalled that she asked mayor Xavier Garcia Albiol to reopen the farmhouse to provide an immediate solution, but the mayor refused, arguing that the space was not in a fit condition.

Despite the criticism, Martínez Bravo acknowledged that the situation at the settlement was complex and that there were some cases related to offences, although she insisted that most residents simply had no other housing alternative.