Why did we meet?
We are meeting this November in Barcelona after some time gathering across various parts of the world. We meet because, although sometimes we feel alone, we know that we are many. And we meet because we want to be even more.
When we meet, we discover that our realities are different, but also that we have many enemies in common. We meet to confront the predators who, day after day, want to take our lives from us, and turn them into profit.
We have called this economic model the vampire economy. We meet in this International People’s Assembly for Housing to plan how to confront it, while giving rise to an economy that serves to sustain life—one that upholds our right to have a decent home, adequate to our needs, above business and profit.
Vampires don’t see homes; they see assets to be chopped up and transformed into profit. They don’t see communities; they see territories to fragment, impose unattainable rents, and turn into tourist hubs and co-living spaces that benefit only a few. These predators have turned our cities into financial laboratories, inflating prices and displacing families and neighbors to satisfy their greed.
We don’t need them. They want us to believe that we depend on them; they colonize our minds, convincing us that there is no alternative. But it is they who rely on us—on our savings, our salaries, our lives, and our rights to survive.
Our focus is twofold. First, how to confront the investment funds and the economic model that drain our resources and livelihoods. Second, how to organize stronger, more resilient movements that can respond to people’s needs and drive real societal change.
We gather to build a plan. We bring together years of experience from diverse places and backgrounds, along with shared challenges that we are determined to face together by learning from each other and planning collectively. We meet because, though we come from different places, we are united. Drawing on our collective strength, we can transform this system that feeds off us.
Enough is enough! Housing is a right—not a luxury or a commodity. Cities are for the people, not for swelling distant, inhuman bank accounts. We come together to “de-vampirize” the economy, exposing their tactics for what they are. If there’s one thing vampires can’t endure, it’s the light: together, we will shine until every dark corner of their operations is illuminated.
Against the Vampire Economy: We reclaim our cities, our neighborhoods, and our lives. We
claim the right to a safe, dignified, and affordable home for everyone. Only by standing together can we rip their fangs out of our communities and build a future free from vampires a future where the economy serves the people, not the other way around.
Let’s unveil their narratives
Who is organizing the meeting?
This meeting is made possible by the collective efforts of many who believed it was both necessary and achievable. From those directly involved in the organization to everyone who has taken the time and shown the willingness to share these four days with us, each contribution makes this gathering possible and meaningful.
The meeting is organized by la Plataforma de Afectadas por la Hipoteca (PAH), which serves as the host, in collaboration with the European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing and the City (EAC) and the research group Antropología de las Crisis y las Transformaciones Sociales (CRITS) at the University of Barcelona.
The PAH is a volunteer organization, with no paid staff to facilitate its activities or the organization of this meeting.
It is both an honor and a pleasure to host this event, but all the preparation has been carried out by people managing their own jobs and caregiving responsibilities. We kindly ask for your understanding and patience if things do not go exactly as planned. We also invite you to contribute in any way you can. 😉
MEETING ORGANIZED BY
The Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) is a horizontal, free-of-charge and non-partisan organization that fights for the right to housing through mutual support. It was founded in Barcelona, in February 2009, with the intention of providing a citizen response to the situation of those people who were beginning to not be able to pay the mortgage and saw how the bank could demand a very high debt from them, even after losing their homes.
Today the PAH has meetings in several cities in Spain and, through collective advice, responds to housing problems that are not only related to the mortgage.
The European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing and to the City is a convergence process between movements from different cities in several european countries fighting for the respect of these fundamental rights. After having campaigned independently for years, those movements (groups and, social movements composed by tenants, slum/ self-built neighborhoods dwellers, squat residents, victims of inadequate housing, victims of eviction or affected by indebtedness, professionals and researchers) felt the need to gather in order to strengthen this fight to take common action and common positions on European Housing issues.
The research group in Anthropology of Crises and Social Transformations (CRITS) was formed in 2021 by researchers from the University of Barcelona. It focuses on promoting ethnographic studies that address the multiple processes of change in contemporary societies within the dynamics of transformation of capitalism. One of its research lines is focused on the financial and housing crises. Within the framework of this group, the research project “Tensions between the right to housing and private property in rental relations” (TEVIPROP) is also being developed, and proposes a socio-legal analysis of these issues and studies discriminations in access to housing.
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
