El Vendrell, with many second homes, has become a target for squatters for years, as has happened in so many other municipalities on the Catalan coast. Its City Council, fed up with the problems generated by “criminal” occupations, has launched its own “anti-occupation office”. The Councilor for Citizen Security, Christian Soriano, presented yesterday the plan to prevent and avoid, whenever possible, “hot” occupations, which become known shortly after they occur.
The City Council highlights the distinction between occupations linked to users of social services, neighbors with limited resources, and those linked to crime. “The occupations end up being a social problem, particularly when they are criminal occupations, which alter the security and tranquility of the neighbors,” added the mayor.
According to data from the Consistory, criminals are less than 5% of the total. “They are well below the average for Catalonia, but criminal occupations generate problems of coexistence,” insisted the Councilor for Citizen Security. “We want to put all the tools to be able to act against them,” said Soriano.
In recent weeks, the local police in El Vendrell have been able to prevent three attempts at a hot occupation, thanks to citizen collaboration and rapid police action, with the opening of the anti-occupation office. Once detected and frustrated, the properties were closed and walled up.
The local police and the Mossos d’Esquadra carried out a joint operation on Ocells street in Coma-ruga on July 25, in a group of occupied houses that have been causing problems for residents for years. Twenty-five people with police records were identified and the water and electricity were cut off.
The anti-occupation office will seek collaboration between different areas of the City Council, not only from the point of view of security. Health, Urban Planning, Housing or Social Services will be in contact to detect them as quickly as possible and act.
“It is a problem that must be addressed not only from the police perspective, we must go to the root of the problem,” said the mayor. A database will be created to record the occupations that currently exist in the municipality. Information will be offered and advice will be given to residents affected by the occupations. The City Council has verified that many residents do not know the regulations or what are the steps to be able to restore possession of their property. It will be managed with the owners how to wall up the homes after vacating.
“We call for citizen collaboration. When hot, it is a much easier administrative and police procedure, different from when the criminal squatters have already settled in the property,” added Soriano.
In winter and autumn, especially during the week, the low density of residents in the urbanizations facilitates occupations. In summer it is much easier to detect and even prevent them.
For tourist municipalities, such as El Vendrell, with nuclei like Coma-ruga, it is also an unpleasant matter due to the bad image. The City Council ensures that it does not have data on the number of occupations.
With 40% of the homes in the municipality as second homes, illegal occupations are a problem that has been dragging on for fifteen decades. In 2008, with the bursting of the housing bubble and the crisis, a thousand houses, according to data given by the City Council at the time, passed into the hands of financial institutions. Of these, the police certified between 400 and 450 occupations.
