The Municipal Institute of Housing and Renovation of Barcelona (IMHAB) has organised a meeting to inform residents about the system of access to social housing in the ‘Illa Glòries’ development, which will be carried out through the Applicants Register for Social Housing. Members of the Barcelona Housing Consortium explained the criteria and requirements for access to these flats.
The presentation took place this Wednesday, 23rd October, at the Auditori de Sant Martí and was also attended by Joan Ramon Riera, Housing Commissioner of City Council. He stated that “next year ‘Illa Glòries’, with its inhabitants, will be a civic space, it will be a district and it will city”.
He also emphasised that the difference between an urban space and a civic space is that people live there, and so he encouraged the citizens to register. Regarding the objective of the meeting, he stressed that “it is very important to inform citizens about the process of applying for these houses”.
What is the Applicants Register for Social Housing?
It is a unique register where people interested in accessing social housing in the city of Barcelona must register. The requirements to be an applicant are:
- Be an adult or a legally emancipated minor.
- Be registered in the city of Barcelona.
- Not own a home.
- Not exceed the income limit.
- Be or have been a beneficiary of social housing.
- Not be in a situation of exclusion.
- Not be incapable of entering into a contractual obligation.
All information about the requirements, the documents to be submitted and the registration process can be found on the Register’s website.
This is the ‘Illa Glòries’ development
It is located at the intersection of the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes and the Encants Vells street. The work is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2025 and will house more than 800 people.
It will be made up of 238 homes, of which 125 will be rented and 113 will be surface rights, two formulas that guarantee that the land will never cease to be public. The apartments will have one, two and three bedrooms, 11 of which will be adapted for people with reduced mobility.
All these flats are distributed in four buildings: two blocks of six and seven floors (facing the Eixample) and two blocks of nine and eleven floors (facing Glòries). These four buildings are formed by two volumes that connect the first three floors, leaving an open space on the ground floor that extends a pedestrian route from the Diagonal Avenue to the Mercat dels Encants. There are also two internal courtyards for the use of the residents themselves, which will serve as access to the apartments and as social spaces to create a sense of community.
The City Council has invested 44 million euros in this project, which underlines the strategy to reduce the environmental impact and the demand for heating and cooling energy. The buildings will have green roofs, photovoltaic panels to generate renewable energy and mechanisms to reuse grey water.