Costa Blanca (a financial crisis)

During the 2008 financial crisis, unemployment among migrant workers on Spain’s Costa Blanca went up to 36.5%. Many worked in construction or service jobs in and around Alicante. But most of them couldn’t get social benefits. Going back home also wasn’t possible. With no work and no safety net, some ended up on the streets. Many slept in small tents in parks or empty warehouses, only to have them taken down by the police. Others put together makeshift shelters from scrap wood on the edge of the city.