Financing of social housing Housing insecurity and pressure due to displacement in Carabanchel, Madrid

Abstract

The 2009 global financial crisis allowed the deployment of capital that took advantage of the general depreciation to acquire assets for speculative purposes all over the planet. In Madrid, large transnational investors bought part of the public housing from the State, concentrated in popular neighborhoods such as Carabanchel. This paper seeks to reflect on the role of the

State in this process of financialisation or exploitation of the exchange value of houses –another public- and which are now tradable goods in financial markets. The analysis is carried out in two parts: a metropolitan approximation that represents the location of the houses sold and a local approximation - based on field observation and interviews with affected neighbors - that allows us to enter into the daily experience lived. Among the effects of the process, a scenario of housing precariousness, forms of neighborhood organization and, mainly, various forms of pressure due to displacement stand out.