THE CASE OF LA PERONA
Les seqüeles del barraquisme i les estratègies d’eradicació
The sequels of shantyism and the strategies of eradication
La Perona was one of the last shantytowns to which gypsy families who could
not qualify for the reaccommodation programmes resorted. In the 1980s, the
Municipal Institution of Housing launched a reaccommodation plan with the
construction of prefabricated single-family dwellings, first at the Pedrosa housing
estate and subsequently in El Maresme neighbourhood.
In the midst of grave economic crisis and high unemployment, the inhabitants
of these estates feared a possible degradation of the territory if the precarious
population were to grow. The neighbourhood reactions of rejection of the Public
Administration’s plans, which had been proposed without sufficient negotiation
with the citizenry, caused the project to be abandoned.
In the face of this situation, it was decided to award compensations to
the shanty-dwellers who would return to their place of origin, a solution
which was criticised bitterly. A second option involved the dispersion and
reaccommodation of the families in second-hand flats. The last shanties in La
Perona neighbourhood were demolished in June 1989.
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