This weekend we explained to ARA the problems with the management of public housing in Barcelona, now that the goal is for rapid growth and the preservation of public ownership. This is one facet of the housing crisis we are experiencing. But there are others, of course. And among them, one of the most extreme is the one that affects the most vulnerable segment of society. If the City Council has a problem with its public housing stock—both when allocating housing and maintaining the properties—it also has a problem with the need to house underprivileged people evicted from their homes and forced to live on the streets. Furthermore, the capital often attracts metropolitan citizens who cannot find support in their municipalities.
According to the data we provided to the newspaper today, there are 3,000 homeless people receiving temporary housing assistance in modest hostels through agreements between the City Council and these tourist establishments. These hostels are so modest that those who end up there complain of deficiencies such as poor hygiene, lack of space, noise, beetle infestations, and unhealthy food. The municipality does not have enough of its own space to meet the growing demand, which is why it has to resort to pensions, a solution that, in principle, according to its own regulations, should only last six months per person, but which in practice is becoming structural. Sixty-five percent of those affected exceed the six-month limit, a third have been in this situation for between one and two years, and 15% for between two and three. Some for up to six years.
This system also has a significant cost for the council: 38 million euros budgeted for 2025 for 3,000 people, the same as last year. In 2022, the budget was 27 million euros for 2,300 places. With current figures, this represents an expenditure of 1,000 euros per month per person. The greatest paradox is that the majority of the money is channeled through a contract with the tourism company BCD Travel, which is responsible for finding vacant places in hostels, guesthouses, boarding houses, or apartments. Currently, almost all of the city's low-category boarding houses are reserved by social services. Although inspections of these establishments have been increased, complaints continue, although often, for fear of losing the aid, they do not reach them through official channels. In any case, users, social workers, and the city's Ombudsman are calling for a change of model. And the City Council claims to be working, while also noting the 15,000 grants worth 7.1 million euros that were given to families last year to avoid evictions.
Truly, we urgently need to move toward a different approach to housing for this most disadvantaged group, a system that is more economically efficient and more humane in its treatment. Because the reality is that there are cases like that of a family of five living crammed into one room, of a mother whose child must sleep in the same bed, or of a child who has lived like this for half his life and hidden it, out of shame, from his schoolmates.
