Speaker
Description
Although the right to housing has been part of the Spanish Constitution since 1976, over 1 million families have been evicted from their homes since Spain's property market crashed in 2008. Face of the housing emergency and the political inaction, in 2009 a social movement emerge, The Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) and in 2017 the tenants' union, both with the aim to stop the evictions and change the national housing policy. After decades of struggle, in 2023 the first national housing law is approved. This research work analyses, through an analytical framework, the evolution since 2009 of the movement fighting for the right to housing and its capacity to transform public policies and in particular the legislative framework, in the Spanish context. The results show, on the one hand, the organizational capacity of these movements and the flexibility of these social organizations to adapt to the changing situation of the housing emergency of the country. On the other hand, they show that these organizations have been able to transcend individual demands and acquire a collective dimension, that is, they have not only been able to respond in the short term to individual emergency situations but also to influence, in the medium and long term, the cultural, media and political spheres in terms of housing. Finally, the work shows that guaranteeing the right to housing for all people implies breaking with the subordination of the use value of housing to its exchange value.
It is hoped that this research work can contribute to other marginalized groups identifying and making visible the collective dimension of their struggles and finding the strength and resources to promote initiatives capable of influencing public decision-making processes.
| Keywords | housing right; social movements; policy-making; housing law; Spain |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
