A new municipal body has been created to advise the city government on housing. The main goal will be to provide solutions that stimulate the public and private sectors as much as possible to boost the amount of affordable housing. The body will be headed by Carme Trilla, chair of the Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Observatory and Fundació Hàbitat3.
The body will be made up of people with broad experience in fields such as urban planning, law, management and housing, to conceive and design steps to stimulate public and private housing projects.
The advisory body will plan action to get the use out of as much land as possible, design a new housing plan and further explore collaboration with all stakeholders in this sector: cooperatives, foundations, private companies and all administrations.
It will also provide maximum specialist knowledge in this sector, as well as identifying specific steps to bring substantial improvements in aspects such as the process to issue permits, heritage and land management and the definition of types of housing needed most and to be prioritised for construction. Action will be defined in line with new social and family realities and the search for formulas to stimulate the renovation of the current housing stock.
The new committee will also report to the Barcelona Social Housing Board, the highest body for debate and participation in his sphere.