Housing is a priority in Girona: 770 affordable apartments by 2029
The city government still has decisive policies and a specific tool to address the challenge of homelessness.
Girona, like the rest of the Catalan cities, faces a major challenge in terms of housing.
Over the last 20 years, the average purchase price of new construction has increased three times faster than household income. The population's purchasing power has therefore plummeted. This is an unsustainable situation that must be addressed. There are approximately 50,000 homes in the city, but it has a limited public housing stock. There are 220 rental homes managed by the Municipal Housing Office, 350 by the Housing Agency of Catalonia, and 510 promoted and managed by the Patronato de la Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz Trust). There are also approximately 1,250 bank-owned homes (3% of the total housing stock) and approximately 800 apartments for tourism.
The mayor of Girona, Lluc Salellas, states: "Housing policies are today the best social tool for the administrations. We must ensure that young people in Girona can stay and live in the city, that housing is not a luxury but a right, and that the drop in rental prices allows for an increase in people's quality of life."
Housing must not expel anyone.
Girona has a unique environment and heritage, with an excellent reserve of natural green corridors around the four rivers that can be explored from east to west by bicycle. The Old Quarter is world-renowned. The relocation of the Dr. Josep Trueta Hospital, a benchmark infrastructure in research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, will be a catalyst for creating a new central area for the entire Girona Urban Area. We must ensure that housing does not force anyone out of this privileged environment, which is why the Girona government is working to encourage a more diverse and affordable housing market for all budgets: young people, older people, vulnerable groups, workers, and independent professionals. The goal is to promote rental housing, land rights, or cooperative housing for lease.
Open to social operators
The city is open to all social housing providers who wish to contribute to the right to housing and will soon provide public land to promote social housing. Sergi Font, Girona's Deputy Mayor for Ecological Transition and Urban Area, explains: "We are carrying out housing interventions in all neighborhoods, promoting affordable housing with new constructions of high architectural quality that blend with the surrounding environment, and also focusing on the improvement and maintenance of the current housing stock."
The Housing Mission is a strategy already underway. There are 146 new public rental housing units currently under construction, 20 units have recently been acquired, 435 public rental housing units on municipal land registered in the Public Land Reserve are pending construction, and work is underway to develop 169 public housing units to be built on privately owned or acquired land.
- More municipal housing<p>Increased municipal housing stock (land policies, purchase of vacant apartments, transfer of municipal land to social entities for public housing, and promotion of new housing options such as cooperative housing).</p>
- Rehabilitation and dignity<p>Policies for rehabilitating and improving the current housing stock, whether by neighborhood through the Generalitat's neighborhood plan or with tax assistance for energy rehabilitation or for the buildings themselves.</p>
- No one without a roof<p>Housing as a right: policies to promote municipal housing stock and plans to combat homelessness.</p>