Construction of the Gornal Housing Estate began in 1972. The works evolved along a different course, as it was a public development of the Ministry of Housing. Even so, the project was plagued by problems from the very beginning. Plans for the area dated back to 1959.
The land meant for the Polígon Gornal was already occupied by residents of Campoamor Street, who opposed the plan, in utter disagreement with the expropriation terms.
A total of 2,252 homes were built, practically half those initially planned.
Though the project predates them, it was associated with the floods of 1962 and the government’s “Plan to Eradicate Shanty Towns and Ruinous Properties” to meet housing needs.
Occupancy of the flats was regulated according to certain distribution quotas set by the ministry: expropriated residents, trade unionists, law enforcement officers, Local Council employees, needs of the Ministry of Housing, Civil Government, military headquarters personnel, Civil Guard, police senior management, bishopric, Courts, Ministry of Education, etc.
The terms of payment were equal for everyone, and varied depending on the size of the residence.
In 1977 there were still 150 vacant apartments. Some 50 of them were “illegally” occupied by citizens still living in shacks in Can Pi. Successive occupations and evictions took place for a time, until the situation was normalized and legalized.
The residents of the Gornal Housing Estate faced even more shortcomings, if possible, than their Bellvitge counterparts. They had the added difficulty of being hemmed in by barriers in the form of rail road tracks and the Castelldefels motorway. These obstacles made the neighbourhood into something of a ghetto isolated from the rest of the city. There were no chemists, shops, markets or schools. Daily life was difficult. Residents had to cross the train tracks if they wanted to go anywhere, with the danger this entailed.
It did not take residents long to voice their demands, protesting on the streets and in the squares, alongside the city’s workers, parishes and associations.
