Olga was 54 years old and had been living for more than 20 years in an apartment at number 16 Comerç Street, in the Santa Eulàlia neighborhood of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona). The same apartment in which she had raised her two daughters, one of them a minor, and built a good part of a life closely linked to the neighborhood. The same apartment that a 'vulture' fund bought and from which she was evicted in April, four months before her suicide on September 7.
Neighbors, friends and members of the Sindicat d'Habitatge de Catalunya and the Neighborhood Association of the Santa Eulàlia neighborhood appeared this Monday morning to mourn the loss and denounce the circumstances surrounding Olga's case. They argue that it was an "avoidable" death and point to the fund that bought the apartment as the culprit for the situation. They also point to the administration for not activating sufficient measures "to guarantee a stable housing alternative."
Among those present were Marta and Desiree, mother and daughter, and close friends of the victim and her eldest daughter, respectively. "Olga was a member of the neighborhood association, she was active in the Sindicat d'Habitatge and she spent her entire life fighting for the neighborhood and its people. Her suicide is a direct consequence of a situation of abuse by a 'vulture' fund and the administration," Marta stated. "These days have been very hard, we are shocked and angry, but we did not want to remain silent," added her daughter.
According to the story presented during the press conference, Olga had bought the home years ago with a mortgage. After separating, losing his job and no longer receiving support, he began to have difficulty paying the payments and ended up losing the property. Subsequently, he was able to remain in the property through a social rent agreed with the bank.
The union claims that the home subsequently changed ownership and ended up in the hands of a company related to the Cerberus investment fund. It was then, according to the version offered by the spokespersons, when the lease stopped being renewed and the judicial procedure to recover the apartment began.
In this sense, neighborhood representatives maintain that, in recent months, Olga's emotional state had deteriorated considerably due to the possibility of permanently losing her home. They point out that the night before the eviction, Olga went to the emergency room after stating that she could take her own life and that her lawyer asked the judge to stop the order, given her emotional situation and the presence of minors in the case. The magistrate, however, considered that the family was acting in bad faith and opened a file with the lawyer.
The launch, therefore, ended up taking place. The groups involved criticize that this risk situation did not lead to stopping the procedure and demand that it be clarified what information the social services, the court and the rest of the organizations involved knew at that time. They also highlight that at first the case was stopped, but that the process was reactivated after the decree of moratorium on evictions was overturned in Congress, with votes from the PP, Vox and Junts.
One of the main messages of the hearing has been precisely the impact that eviction processes can have on the mental health of the people involved. In fact, Olga herself appeared in 2024 in the Parliament of Catalonia, in a commission on mental health, in which she denounced her situation, that she could barely "cover basic needs" and that "she had entered a very deep well."
In this sense, the spokesperson for the Sindicat de l'Habitatge de Catalunya, Pau Segura, explained that "each case begins with a letter at home that tells you that in a few months they will kick you out" and that "not having a place to live generates deplorable mental conditions." Likewise, the representative considers that this vulnerability is not being sufficiently addressed.
The group has therefore demanded a review of the protocols in cases of extreme vulnerability, especially when there are minors or signs of risk to mental health. It also requests stable housing alternatives for the affected families and that the actions of the different institutions that intervened in Olga's case be investigated. In fact, they defend that in these cases the only alternative offered by the Generalitat is "two or three nights in a shelter, often outside the city of the eviction," Segura said.
Both the union and the neighborhood association have called for an event to pay tribute to Olga and to protest on October 3 at 7:00 p.m., in Pius XII Square in L'Hospitalet, to demand changes in housing policies and in the care of families facing eviction.
