Squatters' Capital

Squatters' Capital Tired of being priced out of the property market, young people in Barcelona are taking the law into their own hands. They've occupied some of the city's 400,000 empty buildings.
"All we ask is legal recognition of the right to appropriate habitation", states squatter Alberto Sancho. Unlike other European countries, Spain lacks an organised rental market and has virtually no social housing. Housing prices have increased 150% since 1998 and now, a quarter of the population cannot get on the property ladder. But as Geraldo Pisarello from Barcelona University states "There are approximately three million flats lying empty". Squatting has become the only option for many and the government has been forced to react. Now, a new law is going through parliament, forcing owners to rent out flats which have been empty for six months.
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