“Families Squat in Lisbon” for Der Spiegel 2020

Joana, 36, has been squatting this apartment with her five children, and two small grandchildren for more than a year.

She occupied the empty apartment a year ago, because she couldn't find an affordable home in Lisbon. She fled Spain and the beatings by her former husband. For five years she has been on waiting lists for social housing, but her requests have never been granted.

Lisbon is one of the premier tourist destinations worldwide and the "hottest real estate market in Europe" according to Bloomberg. Property prices in some areas of the city have gone up by 80% in 2018, and rent prices have sky rocketed. According to housing rights activists, there are hundreds of families with no other option than to occupy abandoned apartments.

Assignment work for Der Spiegel in 2020