Barcelona adds the unions to the race to accelerate the construction of public housing

BarcelonaBarcelona has officialized this Monday the signing of an agreement with the UGT and Comissions Obreres through which it adds the two majority unions to the race to accelerate the construction of public housing. In a press conference, the mayor, Jaume Collboni, and the general secretaries of the two unions in Catalonia, Belén López and Camil Ros, explained the keys to an agreement that should allow for the construction of 1,500 new apartments in the city over the next decade.

To achieve this, the City Council will make several plots of land available to the two unions so that they are the ones in charge of finding, among housing cooperatives and social entities, developers willing to carry out the apartments, which will be offered under a surface rights assignment regime for 75 years. "We need everyone who can promote protected housing to do so," said Collboni, who stressed that this plan will coexist with the second call for the ESAL agreement so that non-profit entities can access plots of land to build another 1,500 apartments.

The City Council's goal is to be able to transfer the first three plots of land to the unions before the end of the year. These are three plots of land, two of which are in the Sant Andreu district – at Passeig de l'Havana 10 and Carrer Palamós 62 – and one at Passatge Marquès de Castellbell 1-5, in the Horta-Guinardó district. The forecast is that 180 apartments will be built on these first plots of land.

Both López and Ros have remarked on the importance of unions getting involved in one of the main concerns of workers. "It is part of our determination to be useful tools for the problems of working people beyond proclamations," said López, who stressed that, although 1,500 new homes in a decade will not "solve the problem," it is necessary to start building more as soon as possible. For his part, Ros remarked that workers' rights must be achieved not only within the world of work, but also in their daily lives, and celebrated that this agreement helps to "build rights".

Surface right

The 1,500 apartments to be built through this agreement will be offered under a surface rights regime for 75 years, a formula "halfway between buying and renting." This allows the people who benefit from it to have the stability of having an apartment and being able to articulate a stable life project without the City Council losing control of the property, which cannot be resold. Once these 75 years have ended, the apartments will become part of the city's public rental housing stock.

Although they are promoted by the unions, the apartments will be awarded by lottery among the people registered in the Barcelona Official Protection Housing Applicants Registry who have the economic capacity to assume an affordable mortgage that does not exceed 30%-35% of the household's income. According to the City Council, currently, a 70-square-meter apartment with surface rights can cost, approximately, 173,320 euros plus expenses, according to the prices for protected housing with surface rights established by the Government of Catalonia.