The Hidden Emergency: Housing as a Democratic Threat

Today marks 15 years since the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) launched in comarques of Girona. On this anniversary, activist and human rights advocate Marta Afuera Pons issues a stark warning: the ongoing housing crisis in Spain is not just a social issue, but a fundamental threat to democracy, creating fertile ground for far-right and fascist ideologies. Afuera Pons argues that fascism does not arrive with tanks, but seeps in through societal fractures. The most profound fracture, she contends, is the systematic violation of the constitutional right to adequate housing, enshrined in Article 47 of the Spanish Constitution and Article 26 of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. While these laws guarantee a right to decent housing, they are not enforceable in court to stop an eviction, rendering them powerless for families facing homelessness.

Garantir el dret a l’habitatge ha deixat de ser només una mesura d’assistència social o de protecció als col·lectius vulnerables; avui és, en essència, una qüestió de supervivència democràtica.

From Evictions to Invisible Displacement

The nature of the housing crisis has evolved. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, mass evictions driven by mortgage foreclosures were the norm. Since 2014, the crisis has shifted to the rental market. Data from the General Council of the Judicial Power (CGPJ) shows that by 2019, over 70% of evictions were due to unpaid rent. In Girona's judicial district, an average of 1,000 to 1,400 evictions occurred annually. Official statistics show a decline in executed evictions, 25,540 in 2025 and 4,005 in the first quarter of 2026, but Afuera Pons argues this masks a deeper problem. The decline is partly due to the judiciary's chronic backlog, not a resolution of the crisis. Meanwhile, mortgage enforcement cases surged by 35.6% in 2025, setting the stage for a future wave of evictions. More insidiously, the crisis has become 'invisible'. Thousands of families are forced to leave their homes due to unaffordable rent hikes or non-renewal notices, never appearing in official eviction statistics. This leads to overcrowding, living in vehicles, or homelessness.

Market Forces and Political Failure

Speculation remains rampant. According to Spain's National Institute of Statistics (INE), housing prices rose by 12.9% year-on-year at the start of 2026, with second-hand homes up 13.5%. Investment funds, often dubbed 'vulture funds', are buying entire buildings to force out long-term tenants and maximise profits. Catalonia's attempts to regulate the market, such as price caps and strict rules on short-term rentals, have faced backlash. While providing some legal defence, these measures have also led some landlords to withdraw properties from the rental market or impose stricter solvency requirements, further excluding vulnerable families.

A Crisis of Democratic Faith

The consequence, Afuera Pons warns, is a society where working 40, 50, or 60 hours a week no longer guarantees a roof. This erosion of the social contract breeds desperation and anger, which far-right movements exploit by scapegoating the vulnerable. The failure of public housing policy has created a vacuum where private enforcement companies operate with impunity, normalising the idea that private force is more effective than legal rights. She concludes that ensuring the right to housing is no longer merely a social assistance measure, but a fundamental question of democratic survival. Allowing housing to be treated as a speculative asset, while systematically displacing citizens, is cultivating the very conditions in which fascism can take root.

Reported by Racó Català.