SPAIN'S NEW POOR

Barcelona is a city known for its architecture, culture and thriving business sector.

But the city has recently revealed a darker side: people from all walks of life are suddenly finding themselves exposed to hardship and occasionally hunger, according to Euronews. The economic crisis caused by the pandemic is wreaking havoc, especially among the middle classes.

Nearly half the people asking for social and financial help now are called the “new poor”. They’re people who, for the first time, are in a position of vulnerability. We met with one such family that has lost everything.

Antonio and Cristina have three children. COVID-19 destroyed their small tapas bar, their income. Unable to pay the bills, they also lost their flat. In order to eat, the family has had to ask for help.

The association 'From neighbour to neighbour' collects food from local shops and gives it to people in need. For Antonio, it’s was a first. He told us how it felt:

“I never imagined myself in this position.

"Otherwise, why would I have had three children? I was doing fine. "My life just took a turn for the worse."

"Honestly, going and asking for food at first makes you feel ashamed.”

In September, when the family lost their home, the city council gave them a comfortable tourist flat as a temporary shelter. They are allowed to stay in it until the summer.

Toni’s wife, Cristina, is from Romania. She believes there are a lot of ‘new poor’ in Spain. She also shares Antonio's embarrassment of using charities to survive, but sees no other option:

"It's very hard seeing yourself there, but it’s something you have to do, you have to eat, there is no other option.

"Thanks to these associations, thanks to the fact they exist, we get help.

"Without such support, you would have to look through rubbish bins or steal."

Antonio and his family never considered themselves wealthy, but they always managed to make ends meet. But now, with the 400 euros they get monthly from social security, and Antonio unable to claim unemployment benefits, even buying ice cream for their children is impossible.

On the daily walk to pick up their children from school, there's a constant reminder of the family's bleak situation. Antonio's former tapas bar is just a few steps away. His memories of having to sell the place are still painful: “I made this place my own, to my own taste, how could that not hurt?

"It's something that you create, something you make your own and it went wrong.

"That hurts."

Charities helping the hungry

Oxfam believes that COVID-19 could raise the number of people living in poverty in Spain by around 1.1 million. But why is Spain being hit so hard? Rafael Martínez Buñuel, the president of the association “From neighbor to neighbor” gave us some answers:

“Somehow we ignored the importance of the “informal economy”.

"Now we understand that a lot of people used to work in the “informal economy”, which now no longer exists.

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