Since 2015, the municipal strategy for the construction of state-owned real estate has been aimed at changing the policy that has focused on the sale of new public housing for decades. The promotion of a new housing model with affordable rents, property rights and cohabitation guarantees the control and public ownership necessary to protect the right to housing for all people.
The 34 buildings under construction represent a record number, as the construction of so many new facilities have never been started before. Of the 2,329 apartments, the Municipal Institute of Housing and Rehabilitation (IMHAB) will allocate up to 80% for social and affordable rental. This will increase the public housing stock, which is necessary to combat gentrification and real estate speculation and guarantee access to housing for the most vulnerable segments of the population.
Construction of 2,329 houses is in the final stages, and all of them are expected to be completed by 2024. The apartments will be divided into:
Available for rent: 1,782 apartments;
People involved in urban development processes: 154 apartments;
Temporary right for 75 years: 304 apartments;
Covivienda: 89 apartments (Covivienda is a type of community consisting of private houses, complemented and united by extensive communal spaces).
Geographically, the projects are located in Suitat Velha: 1 complex, 8 apartments;
L'echample: 2 complexes, 285 apartments;
Sants-Montjuïc: 4 complexes, 446 apartments;
Gràcia: 3 complexes, 145 apartments;
Nou Barris: 5 complexes, 257 apartments;
Sant Andreu: 9 complexes, 675 apartments;
Sant Martí: 10 complexes, 513 apartments.
In addition to newly built housing, the public real estate stock is also expanding through the purchase of apartments on the private market, which currently has 900 houses. At the same time, Habitatge Metròpolis Barcelona, with the metropolitan area, will build up to 2,250 affordable rental apartments. Another 1,000 apartments for rent and cohabitation will be built under an agreement with social housing funds and cooperatives.
The Municipal Institute of Housing and Rehabilitation (IMHAB) has allocated 57 million euros for the construction of 446 houses in Marina del Prat Vermell, 352 of which will be rented out, 62 will be registered as a property, and 32 will be bought for cohabitation. In addition to the 68 houses already built in Cal Cisó, a community project implemented by the
City Council and the Zona Franca consortium, nearly 1,200 residents of the district will live in public housing.