The port of Badalona has been the scene of a meeting between the representation of the Badalona City Council, headed by the mayor Rubén Guijarro, and the Sant Adrià de Besòs City Council, with the mayoress Filo Cañete, to assess the new tools available to the municipalities with the entry into force of Law 1/2023 for the adoption of urgent measures against illegal jobs. Technicians from both consistories also participated in the work meeting, as well as local police and Mossos d’Esquadra commanders.
On February 17, the Official Gazette of the Generalitat of Catalonia (DOGC) published Law 1/2023, of February 15, amending Law 18/2007, on the right to housing, and the fifth book of the Civil Code of Catalonia, regarding real rights, in relation to the adoption of urgent measures to deal with the inactivity of the owners in cases of illegal occupation of homes with alteration of the neighborhood coexistence. In this way, the councils can require the large owners of flats to vacate occupied flats within thirty days where activities contrary to the “normal coexistence of the community”, “of public order” or that put “in jeopardy” are carried out. endanger the security or integrity of the property.
The mayor of Badalona, ??Rubén Guijarro, has highlighted that these work meetings: “are very useful to establish in a coordinated way the action protocols that we will carry out from the first day from the municipalities and with the police forces to combat the occupations that they generate serious problems of coexistence with the neighborhood”. The protocol that arises from these agreements will allow “acting in 30 days” to promote evictions of occupied homes.
The mayor added that the municipal government has taken this problem very seriously from the outset and recalled that “according to data from the Department of the Interior, in 2021 Badalona was the second city in Catalonia with the most occupations, with more than 570 complaints, that is why we have created the Urban Police Domus unit and we work to take advantage of the powers and tools that the Law grants to the municipalities”.
For the mayor of Badalona, ??this Law “is one more tool to improve the coexistence and life of the neighbors because it allows us to act from the city councils much more quickly in the face of inaction in conflicting occupations by many large property holders” .
For her part, the mayoress of Sant Adrià de Besòs, Filo Cañete, stressed that in order for vacations to be carried out with guarantees, “joint police work and a space for coordination” are necessary to be able to stop the proliferation of home invasions. Both municipalities will hold regular coordination meetings.
