Skip to content

Squattersout

La okupación baja en Madrid y en Andalucía, pero sube en Valencia y Extremadura

Squatting has become a headache for the Administration. This illegal activity has been in the media chandelier for several years, but 2022 was one of the most ‘moved’ exercises in this regard. Different associations and organizations rush to get data, statistics, surveys… but the reality is that the only one that can shed light on this issue is the Ministry of the Interior. The portfolio headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska has provided idealista/news with the latest consolidated squatting data (although they clarify that they do not discriminate between usurpation and trespassing) in which it can be seen how Madrid and Andalusia have reduced this activity by 15.4% and 6.26%, respectively. On the other hand, regions likethe Valencian Community or Extremadura have seen this activity increase by 23.66% and 5.43%, respectively. 

The figures released by the Ministry of the Interior refer to the period between January and July 2022 and compare it with the same period in 2021. The Administration asserts that in that time interval last year there were a total of 10,220 squats, a 5.43% less than those existing in the first six months of 2021. That is, at the national level, and in the absence of knowing the data for the second half of 2022, this illegal activity has lost weight. But the figures deserve some individualized readings by autonomous community and even by province. 

On the positive side, we find regions such as Madrid or Andalucía, which despite not having the greatest decrease, do manage to significantly reduce squatting in two of the points where the most complaints of this type occur . The capital of Spain registered a total of 1,078 squats in the first six months of 2021, while between January and July 2022 that figure fell to 912. In total, a reduction of 15.4%.

Andalucía, for its part, achieved less than half (-6.26%) than Madrid, but achieved a great goal: a decrease in all its provinces, except one. Thus, Huelva reached a fall of 21.67%; Almería a decrease of 14.93% and Córdoba remains very close by concentrating a decrease of 14.05%. Seville is the only one that does increase the number of squats by 3.74%, going from 455 to 472. 

The regions that have the honor of having reduced this activity in the greatest amount are Ceuta and Melilla with decreases of 41.67% and 33.33%, respectively. What happens in these cases is that the number of squatted homes is not as significant as in Andalusia (because of the extension of land) or in Madrid (because it is the capital of Spain and has a larger population). In fact, none of them reaches triple digits. Specifically, Ceuta went from 12 squatted houses to seven, while Melilla registered 9 squatted houses in the first six months of 2021 to 6 in the same period of 2022. 

Catalonia brings together 42% of squatted houses

Close to the two autonomous cities are the Balearic Islands and Navarra with falls of 31.12% and 26.44%, respectively. The first registers 331 squats in the first half of 2021 and 228 in the same period of 2022. For its part, Navarra goes from 87 squatted homes to 64 homes. These two regions are still far behind in terms of the total number of squatted properties. Precisely, the autonomous community that does bear this dishonorable fact is Catalonia, although not all of it is bad news for the region chaired by Pere Aragonès because it is another of the locations that reduces this activity, even above Andalusia, with a drop of 6, 42%. In spite of everything, the latest data provided by the Ministry of the Interior speaks of 4,341 squatted homes, or what is the same, it brings together just over 42% of all squatted homes in Spain.

The Catalan autonomy is not only currently the one that leads the cases of squatting, but also where phenomena arise that are later replicated in different parts of Spain. One of them is the use of the so-called ‘pizza technique’ , which allows squatters to have a ticket before entering the house to later justify that they are residing in it and thus avoid immediate eviction by the Corps. and State Security Forces. This tactic has been going on in Catalonia since 2018, although in recent years it has spread to other parts of the country. 

The community has also been the scene of a judicial investigation that has revealed that mafias specialized in squatting homes pocket thousands of euros thanks to the agreements they reach with large owners, such as banks or investment funds, to abandon real estate in exchange for receiving financial compensation. 

In reality, there are only three autonomous communities where the number of squatted homes increases, comparing the first six of 2021 and 2022. These are the Valencian Community, Extremadura and Murcia. The situation in the first of the regions is especially worrisome due to two factors: the volume of squatted houses (passes four digits) and the percentage that increases in this period of time. In total , the autonomous community went from 1,027 squats to 1,270, representing an increase of 23.66%. The province of Castellón is one of the main culprits of this increase, registering +46.77%. The capital, Valencia, is also above the measure of the Autonomous Community, reaching an increase of 24.43%. 

Paloma Martín, Minister of Housing for the Community of Madrid , was especially critical of the situation in the Valencian Community, in an interview with idealista/news. “When we look at the most recent data for 2022, data published by the Ministry itself that analyzes what has happened in the first seven months of the year, we see that in Valencia squatting has increased by 23% and in the Community of Madrid it has decreased by 15%. There are two different models: the permissive one with the occupation and the one that defends private property and, of course, the one that defends the victims of the squatting, which the vast majority of the time are families, small savers who have that home ownership and that they see how their rights are violated. Therefore, the problem of squatting sends a terrible message to the market with a clear harm that is once again Spanish families,” the politician asserted. 

The other two regions in which squatting is also increasing are far from the data recorded by the Valencian Community. Extremadura increased by 5.43% and Murcia by 3.52%. Specifically, the first goes from 92 squatted homes to 97, while the second goes from having 359 squatted properties to 382 homes. 

Teruel is left with only one squatted house

By province, Teruel, Ourense and Palencia are the ones that have managed to alleviate this illegal activity the most. Teruel with a decrease of 66% (from 3 squatted houses to only 1) helps Aragón to reduce the total number by 12%. Zamora is very close with a 60% drop, going from 10 homes to 4. The podium is completed by Ourense, which manages to vacate 8 assets and leave the total number of squatted homes at 6 and a decrease of 57.14%. 

 On the opposite side are Soria, Lugo and Cuenca. The first increases 200%, although the volume is not very representative: from one squatted house to 3. Then it registers another alarming growth of 150%, but its total number is not worrisome either: from 6 houses to 15 squatted houses. Cuenca remains in an increase of 92.31% and goes from 13 houses to 25 squatted houses. 

 

source: https://www.idealista.com/news/inmobiliario/vivienda/2023/02/07/804145-la-okupacion-desciende-en-madrid-y-en-andalucia-pero-aumenta-en-valencia-y#at_medium=email&at_emailtype=retention&at_campaign=1059&at_creation=news_daily_20230207&at_send_date=20230207&at_link=m-1-titular-node-804145&at_recipient_id=72478088061&at_recipient_list=3&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1059&utm_term=m-1-titular-node-804145

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *