ERC and PSC also agree to promote the rehabilitation of critical blocks in Trinitat Vella

BarcelonaAfter Besòs-Maresme, Trinitat Vella. The government of Jaume Collboni and the municipal group of Esquerra in Barcelona have reached another agreement to promote the rehabilitation of homes in critical condition in the city. If ten days ago socialists and republicans agreed on an extra 15 million euros to triple the number of homes undergoing rehabilitation in Besòs-Maresme in this same term, now they want to give a boost also to the 432 affected apartments in Trinitat Vella, which have been pending works for years.

In this case, as ARA has learned, the understanding will translate into a request that the leader of ERC in the City Council, Elisenda Alamany, will make to the municipal government at this Friday's plenary session. Among the demands are to improve direct information to residents by reinforcing the urban regeneration office in the neighborhood; to improve the precautionary measures – for example, struts – that have already had to be installed in 28 buildings; to carry out a semi-annual follow-up of these measures, and to guarantee that residents will not be responsible for the cost of rehabilitation if European funds are finally lost.

This last point is one of the keys to the pact. The delay in the execution of the rehabilitation plans for the area has meant that almost eight years after the approval of the urban regeneration plan, the most urgent matter is still pending. That plan foresaw the rehabilitation of 432 apartments and 39 commercial premises in 75 buildings located between Via Barcino and the streets of Vicenç Montal, Mare de Déu de Lorda, Foradada, and Mossèn Epifani Lorda. Today, as residents denounced at a press conference by the Federation of Residents' Associations of Barcelona (FAVB) in November, there is still no rehabilitation project signed in the entire neighborhood.

This puts at risk the arrival of Next Generation funds, which were to finance part of this operation. These resources were conditional on the works being completed by June 30, 2026, which is already impossible. Therefore, the agreement between ERC and the municipal government provides for part of the 50 million for rehabilitation, which both groups agreed on in Barcelona's budget this year, to be allocated to cover the part of the works that should have been paid for with European funds.

Pressure for Illa's budgets

Executive sources have confirmed to this newspaper that they will accept Alamany's request. But they add an asterisk to this endorsement: the agreement will be linked to "the need for a budget in the Generalitat". The same sources emphasize the importance of involving the other side of Plaça Sant Jaume in housing regeneration, as they have powers there. The pact, therefore, will also mean an extra pressure from the PSC on Esquerra to move forward with Salvador Illa's accounts, just as happened last week with the tram connection along Diagonal.

In fact, the City Council had already agreed to involve Illa's government in the rehabilitation of buildings at risk in the Besòs-Maresme neighborhood. Following an agreement between the council and, in that case, Barcelona en Comú, the creation of a specific public entity with the participation of the City Council and the Generalitat was agreed to speed up the work and allocate 400 million euros in the next twelve years to recover about 4,000 dilapidated apartments in the area. A commitment that the commons have asked not to depend on whether the Catalan budgets are finally approved.