The Casa Orsola Case Turns Against the Left and the Sindicat de Llogateres

Early Friday morning, the news broke. The Barcelona City Council would buy Casa Orsola. Therefore, the residents who were under an eviction order will be able to continue living in this modernist building in the Eixample.

What seemed—or was sold by the left as—a good piece of news has ended up backfiring. Both the Sindicat de Llogateres and the main progressive political forces. As details of the operation became known, especially following the public appearance of Mayor Jaume Collboni, what was initially sold as a success has turned into a wave of criticism against Collboni, the PSC, the Comuns, and also the Sindicat de Llogateres.

Let's analyze the reasons why the three main left-wing political agents involved in the Orsola case have been weakened by this operation.

The PSC of Barcelona with Jaume Collboni at the Helm

- The Barcelona City Council will spend, along with the Habitat 3 Foundation, a total of 9.2 million euros to acquire this modernist building. According to Collboni, this is a price 30% below the market price. However, the final purchase price far exceeds the 6 million paid in 2021 by the fund that owned the building until now.

- When in 2021 the municipal government of Ada Colau rejected the option to buy Casa Orsola for 6 million, Jaume Collboni and the PSC were part of the executive. Now, almost five years later, they make a different decision with an operation that is at least 50% more expensive.

- The 9.2 million for the purchase will fall short. The building requires several maintenance works that will increase the final public investment.

- It will be the Habitat 3 Foundation that will manage the property. This is a foundation that received almost 7 million euros in subsidies in 2023 alone (almost 90% of its income). And it has expenses of more than 1.5 million euros in salaries. Additionally, Habitat 3 was recently in the news because, in some apartments they owned that were given to supposed vulnerable families, these are making life impossible for the neighbors who have repeatedly complained about this foundation.

- The formula used by the City Council to close the controversy over Casa Orsola is not replicable to other similar cases. It is estimated that there may be up to 4,000 buildings in Barcelona in a situation similar to that of the Orsola residents. It is impossible and unfeasible to repeat the formula used in this modernist building in the Eixample. Therefore, complaints have already started from residents of other neighborhoods in similar situations.

- The City Council has benefited tenants with public money who are not precisely in a vulnerable situation. In fact, the neighbor who was to be evicted is a high school teacher with a fixed salary and stable position who will now live in a penthouse with a 645 sq. ft. (60 square meters) terrace in one of the most expensive areas of Barcelona thanks to the public money paid by Collboni's City Council.

Many are questioning why these residents have this privilege when hundreds of Barcelona citizens are in a clearly and objectively worse situation. Residents of neighborhoods abandoned by the local council (such as Raval or Nou Barris) have also made themselves heard, having been asking for investments for years and now seeing a fortune spent to benefit people who are not vulnerable.

- Jaume Collboni will also have to face a possible judicial problem. The PP of the Catalan capital has taken the case to the Prosecutor's Office because they consider that the operation creates inequalities among Barcelonans and benefits the inquiokupas.

The Sindicat de Llogateres

- Early Friday morning, the Sindicat de Llogateres was satisfied and happy with the news. A few hours later, they completely changed the script and started acting angry, harshly criticizing Collboni. What they provoked is that many people reproached them that their goal was not to defend the Casa Orsola residents from the vulture fund, but that all they want is to live eternally from the conflict.

- After asking for magical solutions, they got angry because the City Council bought Casa Orsola. One of the few viable solutions was precisely the purchase by the council. Faced with this situation, many asked what they expected. How can they complain after generating a conflict that had few solutions? After controlling the narrative and the agenda, they are still angry even though the tenants they defended will not have to leave.

- For days they have staged a spectacle in the center of Barcelona so that, finally, their great enemy (the owner of the house) made a fortune, earning more than 3 million euros more than they invested when buying it less than five years ago.

- "We have managed to get rid of Albert Ollé (head of the fund that owned the building)," they said on their X account. Many, tired of their desire for prominence, reminded them that they have achieved nothing. That everything has been moved unilaterally by the Barcelona City Council and that they have little to do with the final solution.

Ada Colau and the Comuns

- The Comuns, as usual, have tried to gain political advantage from the 'Casa Orsola' case. They are precisely the ones who rejected buying the building in 2021 when it was worth 6 million euros.

- The Comuns have sided with the tenants, also criticizing Jaume Collboni. They have done so ignoring that they have governed Barcelona between 2015 and 2023 and also that they have been governing in the Government for 6 years. In other words, if anyone is responsible for the housing problem that exists especially in Barcelona, it is them.