After confirming the purchase on May 6, on Tuesday, November 15, the Barcelona City Council officially welcomed the residents of the property located on Arai Street, in the Gòtic neighborhood of Ciutat Vella, which will expand the supply of public housing, especially in a dense area with a lack of social rental supply.
The Councilor for Housing and Renovation of the Barcelona City Council, Lucía Martín, as well as the Councilor of the Ciutat Vella district, Jordi Rabassa, and the manager of the Municipal Institute of Housing and Renovation of Barcelona (IMHAB), Gerard Capó, led the reception. Among other important messages, the public representatives emphasized the clear will of the City Council to work to make Ciutat Vella a district for the neighbors, since neighborhood associations and organizations have been mobilizing for years to resolve this situation.
In this sense, the purchase and subsequent refurbishment of this building will immediately expand the public housing stock in the Gòtic Quarter, which is particularly lacking in this type of supply. Currently, there are already seven families living in the building, which thanks to this operation will ensure that they will be able to stay in the neighborhood, while the remaining four homes will become part of the public housing stock.
The multi-family building at C/Arai consists of a ground floor, main floor, three floors, first floor and general roof, and is intended for residential use, except for the first floor, which consists of commercial premises. The approximate year of construction is 1910 and the built area is 2,114 square meters, where the renovation of the main and rear facades and the interior courtyards is planned, as well as the waterproofing of the roof, the cleaning and painting of the premises and the installation of an elevator.
More than 180 homes acquired in the district since 2015
In this line of growth of the public housing stock, since June 2015 the Ciutat Vella district has seen a total of 185 homes acquired (15% of the total), coming from the sum of 8 homes acquired individually and 177 homes from 12 entire estates, also acquired. All this between the neighborhoods of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera, Raval, Barceloneta and Gòtic.
Specifically, the purchase of the C/Arai estate is the second in the district in 2022, together with that of C/ Jaume Giralt, consisting of 15 homes.
Regarding the overall data for the city, also since June 2015, up to 1,172 homes have been purchased, coming from the sum of 234 homes purchased individually and 938 homes from 43 entire estates acquired. And specifically, since 2022, 127 dwellings have been added from the acquisition of 8 single dwellings in the city and 119 dwellings from 6 whole estates acquired.