The Lleida City Council evicted yesterday morning two spaces used as substandard housing in the upper part of the building at number 30 Companyia Street, in the Old Quarter. The action was carried out due to risks to people's health and safety, with the support of the Urban Guard.
In the operation, five people, three men and two women, were evicted. The council has indicated that all of them were offered assistance by the municipal social services. After the intervention, access to the spaces was boarded up.
Without risk of imminent ruin
The municipal technicians verified that in the evacuated areas there was no risk of imminent collapse. Even so, the Paeria keeps open the technical evaluation of the property and is preparing a report to determine what works it will be necessary to order to the community of owners.
The rest of the building remains inhabited, so the action has focused solely on the two spaces located in the upper part of the property that were being used in inadequate conditions.
Recent background in Les Canals
The intervention on Companyia street adds to other recent actions by the city council against this type of accommodation. In November of last year, the Paeria already ordered the closure of several substandard dwellings in an area of the Les Canals district, near the Ll 11 road.
At that point, between 80 and 100 people came to spend the night in living spaces installed in containers, storage rooms, and warehouses that had been subdivided. Those spaces showed a lack of ventilation, unsafe electrical and thermal installations, severe dampness, and a significant accumulation of scrap metal and trash.
The eviction order in Les Canals arrived a year and a half after the situation was detected. Now, the action in the heart of Barri Antic once again places the focus on the use of spaces not enabled as housing in the city and on the safety and health conditions in which those who occupy them find themselves.