Residents of Tribulete 7 in Madrid's Lavapiés neighbourhood have turned their apartment block into a stage, hosting concerts and moving their daily lives onto the street to protest the sale of their building to an investment fund. The fund, which purchased the property in 2024, has been accused of pressuring tenants to leave through rent increases and aggressive construction works that flooded some apartments. The tenants have responded with a campaign of radical creativity, opening their homes to the public for musical performances and later taking furniture outside to cook, knit, play chess, and work while a local band performed.
From Living-Room Concerts to Street Performances
The protests began with living-room concerts, inviting musicians to play inside the flats and shops at risk. A month later, they reversed the concept, moving furniture onto the street. There, tenants cooked, knitted, played chess in dressing gowns, worked from home, and bobbed in armchairs to a brass version of Freed from Desire. Multimedia journalist Leah Pattem, who documented the events, described it as "a spectacular theatrical performance of everyday existence, but also a fight for their lives."
Spain's Housing Crisis Evolves
Spain's housing crisis has shifted since the 2008 global financial crisis. While the Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH) once focused on banks and reckless mortgages, the 2020s crisis involves investment funds like Blackstone buying entire residential buildings, sometimes with a hundred tenants inside. Media coverage has also evolved, from documenting brutal evictions to celebrating communities under threat to inspire mobilization. Pattem and documentary film-maker Elisa González have spent two years in Lavapiés witnessing this new social movement.
Cultural Fabric Under Threat
The tenants of Tribulete 7 reflect Lavapiés' diversity: young families, pensioners, single women, migrants, teachers, healthcare workers, writers, actors, and musicians. They used their social and cultural capital to resist, turning the building into a stage broadcast on every news channel. Nani, a second-floor resident, runs El Elemento, a DJ collective for people with disabilities. Her performer DJ Jessy played at the first musical protest in a now-closed shoe shop and later at Madrid's neighbourhood fiestas. Nani fears for the group's future if forced out, noting the council champions local culture but ignores the housing crisis destroying it.
Planning Reforms and Tourist Accommodation
Critics say Madrid's recent planning reforms, intended to regulate tourist accommodation, have made it easier to convert residential buildings into tourist flats with a simple licence change. Lavapiés already has one of the highest concentrations of unlicensed tourist rentals, and the situation may worsen. The first building to fall victim to this conversion scheme is just around the corner from Tribulete 7.
Legal Battle and Community Care
After years of campaigning, tenants and their lawyer Alejandra Jacinto Uranga filed what could be Spain's first successful lawsuit against an investment fund for alleged real estate harassment. The owners reject the claim and are fighting the case. Beyond the legal fight, the tenants have brought the neighbourhood together, giving purpose and joy amid Europe's most aggressive housing crises. Pattem and González replicated this spirit in free community screenings of their documentary Soy Tribulete 7. One screening at Club 33 ended with DJ Jessy and her crew in the DJ booth, with the neighbourhood dancing. Pattem concluded: "Culture is not merely a reflection of resistance – it is resistance, and it is part of Spain’s new fightback, for the right to good, affordable, secure housing for all."
