Cars become the home of Spain’s pandemic victims

PAMPLONA, Spain (AP) – When the social worker called to tell Javier Irure that he was being evicted, the 65-year-old Spaniard could not understand that he could end up homeless after five decades of manual labor.

I grabbed some clothes, a few books and other things, wrapped them in a sheet and said to myself, ‘I have one more roof to put on my head: my car,’ ”Irure said from the old compact Renault Clio this has been his refuge for the last three months.

Irure belongs to the multitude of economic victims of the coronavirus pandemic. He managed to avoid COVID-19, but the labor slowdown caused by the restrictions on movements and social activities imposed by the Spanish government to control the spread of the virus was lethal for its financial stability.

Irure, who started working at the age of 13 as a hotel shop, was working as a professional cleaner when the pandemic hit Spain last year and dried up its sources of income. It wasn’t long before Irure left his rental apartment.

He tried to get help from public social services, but relied on the help of local charity Ayuda Mutua.

“You feel like a pendulum” dealing with the official bureaucracy, Irure said. “Moving from one window to another, from calls that are never answered to vague promises.”

The pandemic has been particularly hard on the Spanish economy due to its dependence on tourism and the services sector. The country’s left-wing government has maintained a prevention program to reduce the impact, but more than a million jobs have been eliminated.

While united families have kept many citizens who might otherwise have ended up destitute, the confinement of people at home has also reduced Spanish family life, as seen in an increase in divorce rates. The breakdown of households has left more people alone.

The Catholic aid organization Cáritas Española said earlier this month that about half a million more people, or 26% of all aid recipients, have asked for help since the beginning of the pandemic. Caritas has opened 13 centers dedicated to helping the homeless since the pandemic began.

Like Irure, Juan Jiménez had no choice but to live in his car, a second-hand Ford where he has slept for about a year.

Jimenez, 60, saw his mortgage payments go out of control and his marriage collapsed after he and his wife bought a larger house. The 620 euros ($ 740) he received in government grants in recent months was for his seven children, he said.

“I dream of having all my kids under one roof, but it’s better to be here,” Jimenez said. “They have their lives and I would just be a problem.”

Jiménez and Irure move their cars from one car park to another on the outskirts of the city of Pamplona, ​​in northern Spain, where they once had houses. They do this to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

“When I get up in the morning, I ask myself,‘ What am I doing here? Jiménez said from his car, full of clothes, blankets and bags stuffed with everything he has.

“We are invisible beings. No one wants to look at us. No one wants to know anything about us, “he said.” We don’t exist. “

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AP writer Joseph Wilson contributed to this report from Barcelona.

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