The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, and the Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, visited the Porta Trinitat social housing estate this Thursday. Located on the Ribes road, 53-65, it has a total of 139 flats, 85 of which have services for the elderly and were handed over a few months ago. The remaining 54 will be used for social rental for families and the keys will be handed over this summer.
The investment for the construction of this social housing block was almost 18 million euros, of which the Ministry contributed around 13% of the total (around 2.2 million euros).
Both the Mayor and the Minister referred to this inter-administrative cooperation, which has allowed the construction of 3,500 new social rental homes in recent years, and announced that they would work together, the City Council and the Spanish Government, to prepare a new agreement that would extend the State Executive’s support to municipal public promotion.
During the visit, Collboni declared that “a home must fundamentally serve to live” and highlighted the “extra effort” that the City Council is making to increase the promotion of social housing “in the new growth areas of the city, such as La Sagrera, Bon Pastor, 22@ north and La Marina”.
For his part, Rodríguez has offered the government’s help to other administrations so that they can follow Barcelona’s example and continue to build more affordable housing and “continue to renovate our neighbourhoods and homes” in order to “have projects with an intergenerational link or special attention to the elderly”.
The new housing strategy: Pla Viure
The Mayor and the Minister have also highlighted the commitment of the City Council and the Government to prioritise policies for the right to housing. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the measure to recover the 10,101 tourist apartments in the city so that they can be used for housing. Rodríguez praised the “courage” of Mayor Collboni for not “looking the other way”: “He has not just observed and denounced the problem, but has offered solutions to give the people of Barcelona a chance to live”, she said.
And this is precisely one of the objectives that Collboni has emphasised, to ensure that “young people from the working middle class” who cannot afford the rent on their salaries can stay in the city. He also stressed that Barcelona “is the first European city to take this measure, but we will not be the last”.
In addition to the recovery of all housing for tourist use, Pla Viure includes the modification of 30% to make it effective and a redoubling of efforts to promote officially protected housing.