Housing overtakes insecurity as the top concern for Barcelona residents.

BarcelonaFor the first time since 2018, housing is once again the top issue for Barcelona residents. According to the municipal barometer, 29.9% of citizens now rank this issue as their main concern. This consolidates the trend already indicated by recent editions of the barometer, where housing had steadily climbed as a major concern. While in July of last year it was the top issue for 16.6% of respondents, by the end of the year it was already the top issue for 28.8%, a virtual tie with insecurity, which remained ahead with 28.9% of citizens choosing it. Now, however, housing breaks this barrier and surpasses insecurity as the top concern in the Catalan capital.

overtaking The rise in housing as the top concern for Barcelona residents is also accompanied by a significant drop in the number of citizens who rank insecurity as their number one concern. While six months ago it still led this ranking with 28.9%, it has now dropped by almost six points and remains in second place with 23.1%. Tourism is in third place, with 9.8% of respondents citing it as the main concern for Catalans. Cleanliness, which had appeared among the main problems in the past, is now only so for 5.1% of respondents.

However, in this barometer, "problems related to immigration" appear as the fourth most worrying issue for Barcelona residents, although only 5.7% of respondents chose it. In recent editions of the Barcelona City Council barometer, it had already been growing, and in the most recent wave, 4.3% of citizens ranked it as a concern.

At a press conference, the first deputy mayor, Laia Bonet, considered that "it doesn't surprise anyone" that housing is the main concern of citizens, as it is "a truly important problem for all large cities." Bonet, however, wanted to emphasize the decrease in the number of respondents who cite insecurity and cleanliness as the main problems. "It's clear that the work we are doing is producing results," she assured.

Bonet expressed satisfaction with the results. "Today in Barcelona there is a government that governs and citizens who perceive and value this," she celebrated. She did so by emphasizing that 49.2% of those surveyed—seven and a half percentage points more than a year ago—consider the City Council's management "good or very good," while 32.1% consider it "bad." However, 45.7% of Barcelona residents—10 points less than a year ago, mind you—still believe the city has worsened in the last year, compared to 30.2% who think it has improved. Twenty percent consider it to be the same. However, 51.4% believe it will improve in the next year.

Good results for the PSC

The barometer also shows good electoral prospects for the PSC, which, if direct voting intentions—uncooked spontaneous responses—are taken into account, would comfortably win the elections. According to the survey, the Socialists have a direct voting intention of 16.1%, 4.2 points above the results obtained in 2023, when they were the second force with 10 councilors. In contrast, the poll shows a downward trend for the rest of the parties, with Barcelona en Comú as the second force but far behind the PSC with 7.9% direct voting intention. ERC is behind with 7.5%, and Junts per Barcelona, ​​​​which won the last election, would fall to 4%. Further behind are the CUP (2.7%), the PP (2.4%), and the Catalan Alliance, which appears in the barometer with 2% direct voting intention.

Furthermore, the mayor, Jaume Collboni, has a 5.1 pass mark, a figure he hasn't achieved since the first barometer published after he took office. The mayor is the only municipal leader to pass, and by far the best-known. His approval rating reaches 86.4%, while the next best-known is Daniel Sirera, with 48% and a 3.2% rating. Behind the mayor, the highest score is obtained by the ERC leader in the council, Elisenda Alamany—4.9 and a 42.5% approval rating—followed by the Junts leader, Jordi Martí Galbis—4.8 but only 16.6% approval rating—and the leader of Barcelona en Comú, 37.1%.

Some of the opposition, however, have been skeptical of the barometer's results. From Junts, Martí Galbis considered it "strange" that the mayor approves even though 45.7% of those surveyed believe the city is worse off than a year ago. PP spokesperson Juan Milián also questioned the PSC results because, he pointed out, the survey's fieldwork predates the Santos Cerdán case. For the Comuns party, deputy spokesperson Marc Serra criticized the rise of the housing problem as the fault of a municipal government "that doesn't listen." From ERC, Jordi Castellana focused on analyzing the Republicans' results to emphasize that, in his opinion, Alamany's report shows that those surveyed are rewarding "the

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