This week the 2021 Report of the Observatory of Discrimination in Barcelona has been published: It collects the work and data provided by the Office for Non-Discrimination (OND) of Barcelona City Council and 22 social entities in the city grouped in the Board of Entities with Service for Victims of Discrimination (SAVD).
This report, published for the fourth consecutive year, combines data from the OND and the SAVD Table with other reports and resources that allow for a broader understanding of discrimination in the city, such as the Neighborhood Relations and Coexistence Survey of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, made at random to 4,043 people living in the city to know their perceptions and experiences of discrimination in the city.
The report shows the cases reported during 2021, and analyzes who is being discriminated against, who is doing it, where, for what reasons, through what actions, what rights are being violated and what response is being given from the entities and the public administration. It also analyzes the main problems detected throughout the year for each of the axes of discrimination it examines, as well as some good practices that are being carried out in the fight against discrimination in Barcelona, posing challenges and recommendations for the future.
Each year the report addresses a relevant issue in greater depth, which this year revolves around discrimination in housing.
You can find the full report and an executive summary in English, Catalan and Spanish on the website of the barcelona Discrimination Observatory.
Launch event on discrimination in access to housing
The report of the Observatory was presented on July 13 at the Civic Center Convent of Sant Agustí. The event focused on discrimination in access to housing with a debate on racism when accessing housing and a performance by the monologue writer and actress Asaari Bibang. You can watch the entire event (in Catalan) at this link.
Ratified the first municipal sanction in a discriminatory rental announcement
The publication of the report has coincided with the ratification, by a judge of Barcelona, of the sanction of 90,001 euros filed by the City of Barcelona to a real estate agent who announced a rental apartment which included , as a requirement, to be a “Spanish person”. In March 2020, the council notified the agent of the sanction for violating the Catalan Law on the Right to Housing and violating international and European legislation on human rights. He appealed the sanction to the contentious-administrative court, which has just ratified the municipal sanction.
The facts date back to October 2019, when the Office for Non-Discrimination (OND) detected the facts thanks to the complaint made by a citizen through the City Council’s complaints system. The citizen warned about the information that appeared in the form of an advertisement for the offer of rental housing services on the Idealista advertising portal and asked that it be resolved whether that content could constitute a situation of discrimination in equal access and occupation of housing.
It was considered that the offer excluded from the access to housing a group of people due to their origin, a fact that contravenes the law 18/2007 of 28 December on the right to housing, which defines as direct discriminatory conduct in matters of housing any treatment received by a person or by a group other than the receipt by another in a similar situation, provided that there is no legitimate purpose to receive this treatment and, typifies as a very serious infraction (art. 123.2.a) to carry out actions or omissions that lead to harassment or discrimination in the use of housing. The City Council of Barcelona then processed the file, until reaching the final resolution, which imposes a penalty of 90,001 euros for violators. This decision was challenged before the Court of Contentious-Administrative that has ruled on one of the three parties reported.
This sentence is the first to be pronounced on this matter, and becomes the first in Spain issued for discrimination in “access to housing” in the exercise of administrative guardianship.