That was one of the slogans displayed at a recent protest march in Barcelona. Local residents were protesting the large number of tourists in their home city. The Barcelona government’s recent law restricting the number of hotel and rental beds in the city made hotel owners and rental landlords outraged at the restrictions and residents outraged that the restrictions were not strict enough. The Barcelona residents feel that the new law was necessary but still not enough to curb the in flood of tourists as Barcelona becomes more and more popular. Despite the local resident protest it cannot be denied that the tourists support a wide range of industries in Barcelona and not only rentals and hotels. For this reason the Barcelona government has to act with caution, balancing their regulations between too many and too few restrictions.
The Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH)
The PAH is very concerned with the ongoing eviction crisis in Barcelona where home owners can be evicted for not meeting their mortgage commitments to the bank. The situation has improved dramatically since the election last year of the new Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau a former anti-eviction activist herself. However the PAH is now focusing on keeping this issue in the public eye.
PAH states that not only is the situation critical but housing in general is an issue which needs to be addressed in Barcelona as more and more Spanish home owners are renting out their properties to tourists rather than locals. This leaves many locals desperately looking for available and reasonably priced rental apartments. Spanish home owners in Barcelona know that with the thriving tourism industry in Barcelona they can easily put their rents up for visiting tourists. However when they try to ask the same high rents from locals, the locals can’t pay. A spokesman for PAH, Santi Mas de Xaxas Faus summed it up in a December 2015 interview when he said that the people of Barcelona are facing two crisis: One is the short term (and often illegal) rental of Barcelona apartments to tourists and the other is the problem faced by many Spanish homeowners who cannot repay their mortgages and so get evicted.
Catalonian Independence and the Barcelona Housing Situation
Many Catalonian citizens would like to see Catalonia break away from Spain and become an independent state. One of the reasons being that they would hope to establish a new type of society where, there would be a more socially-oriented society with housing, health care and education as well as other basic needs free or almost free to everyone and where everyone is equal. However whether this would change the present housing situation is doubtful. Tourists would still flock to Barcelona and need accommodation and homeowners would still need to pay their mortgages.
Barcelona’s housing-conscious mayor Ada Colau together with her city council are aiming to increase the number of homes available for public housing on a rental basis. The aim is to make more accommodation available in Barcelona for those who can’t afford to buy but still need a place to live. The municipality’s aim is to provide approximately a thousand apartments for public rental housing. Simultaneously the city council want to promote the economic activity of this social sector to provide employment in the construction industry and other sectors. The new program which spans 2014-2016 has a very clear strategy plan. The strategy should provide 10% more public rental housing by the end of 2016.
The Public Rental Housing Strategy
Construction of 500 social rental homes by Patronat Municipal de l’Habitatge de Barcelona.
The municipality will buy and renovate 300 existing homes in Ciutat Vella, Sants and Nou Barris. These dwellings will be made available for public housing rental.
A program to make 200 privately owned homes available for public housing rentals.
Encouragement of grants to social rental promoters and to encourage the completion of half-built properties.
Promote rehabilitation grants in the Canyelles District.
Who Will Get the Public Housing?
The rental homes will be made available to select groups. 50% of the 1,000 homes will be earmarked for young people, families and couples who will pay approximately 200€-400€ rent each month. The rent is determined by the income level so that your rent is never more than 30% of your salary. The rest of the homes will be reserved for social emergencies to provide accommodation to people who have been evicted from their homes for failing to keep up their mortgage payments and for the elderly, disabled and victims of domestic violence. It is clear that there will be more applicants than available homes and so the properties will be allocated by drawing lots. More public housing is continuously being added to the properties available; to date there are approximately 10,423 apartments used for social rental programs in Barcelona.
