Countdown to the launch of the largest public housing development underway in Barcelona

BarcelonaIt's Wednesday and while journalists visit the imposing building on Illa Glòries, there are still some workers polishing small details of the work. But at first glance it can already be seen that practically everything is ready. Barcelona City Council is facing the final stretch before the first residents can move into the 238 homes that make up this protected public housing development, the largest currently underway in the city. The municipal forecast is that the first tenants will begin to arrive at the building in the summer.

Located in the block formed by Gran Via de las Corts Catalanas and Carrer de los Encants Vells with Carrer de los Castillejos and Plaça de las Glòries itself, the development is made up of four buildings that add up to a total of 238 one, two and three-bedroom homes. Of these, 88 will be allocated under affordable and social rental regime, and 113 under right of surface regime, which guarantees that they will never cease to form part of the public housing stock. There will also be 32 flats for people affected by a process of urban expropriation, and another five reserved for the Emergency Table.

The promotion has generated a great deal of expectation. When the process of allocating the homes began in October with the presentation of the bases of the call and the opening of the application process, the avalanche of requests from people registered in the Register of Applicants for Officially Protected Housing in Barcelona was immediate. To the point that, pending resolution of all the objections, the forecast is that more than 10,000 people will participate in the draw: more than 8,000 for social and affordable rental homes and nearly 2,000 for those with right of surface.

The draw at the end of March

The City Council expects to have the entire process of objections resolved shortly and for the draw to allocate the flats to be able to take place before the end of March. From there, the horizon is that the first residents will be able to access the new flats in the summer, when the first affordable and social rental contracts have been closed. Those awarded on the right of surface will take a little longer to arrive because the process is more complex.

In statements to journalists, the first deputy mayor, Laia Bonet, has claimed the Isla Glòries as "one of the great hubs of public housing in the city" and has highlighted that up to 800 people will be able to live there. "It is one of the great examples of the Barcelona we want," she added, and stressed that it is the "largest public housing development currently under construction" in the city. Bonet has also pointed out that around the Glòries area, some 840 public housing units must be built, including the development of Isla Glòries and others.