"This is no way to live": homes at risk of collapse in Barcelona

BarcelonaFor the past three years, every time Aurora Jiménez goes to the bathroom, the mirror reflects her own image and that of two large yellow supports holding up the ceiling. A water leak in a public apartment on the second floor of her building caused the ceiling above her bathroom to collapse, and firefighters had to shore up the apartment. Later, four more apartments in that building on Marsala Street alone would have to be shored up. Jiménez is one of many residents of the Besòs-Maresme neighborhood in Barcelona who live in a home with serious structural deficiencies, waiting for a solution that never comes. "This is no way to live," she emphasizes in a conversation with ARA in the dining room of her home, where she has lived for over twenty years. Tired of seeing a hole in the living room ceiling, she covered it herself some time ago with a sheet of plasterboard and put a light fixture back in. Throughout the rest of the apartment, many electrical conduits are exposed. She also had to remove the plasterboard covering a dining room wall herself because it had rotted from the water and was infested with insects. Despite the situation, her apartment—where she lives with her teenage daughter—still lacks a clear rehabilitation schedule beyond the City Council's promise that it's among the priority buildings slated for renovation during the next term. "Sometimes you think they'll never fix it. You lose whatever little hope you have," she laments.

A few meters from Jiménez's house, on Catania Street, Juan Antonio Amaya shows his dining room, which is full of shoring. The first piece was put up in 2019. A year ago, firefighters evacuated him for fear that the ceiling would collapse on him. Since then, the City Council has housed him in a room at a boarding house. "I don't know when I'll be able to go back," he says resignedly, while showing how the crack in one of the beams in the kitchen ceiling is getting bigger and bigger. The building's basement is a forest of shoring. The block consists of three 24-story stairwells. All the other residents still live in the building.

The apartments on Jiménez and Amaya streets are just two of the most serious examples of a phenomenon about which the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Barcelona (FAVB) issued a warning this Thursday. At a press conference, the organization's president, Miquel Borràs, denounced that there are currently at least 8,000 homes in the Catalan capital with "serious" structural deficiencies awaiting rehabilitation. Many of them were built during the [unclear - possibly "crisis" or "death"]. developmentalism Francoist-era buildings constructed with aluminous cement. Borràs detailed that 5,000 of these apartments are located in the Besòs-Maresme district – 2,800 of them at serious risk of collapse –; 2,500 in La Paz; 432 in Trinitat Vella; 314 in Poblenou; and 5 in Carmel. These figures come from reports by various government agencies.

This is, in essence, another major, less visible housing crisis. Not only are there difficulties accessing housing, but in many cases, the people who live there do so in appalling conditions. "It's important not only to build new housing, but also to rehabilitate existing properties," summarized Borràs, who appeared alongside the spokespeople for the neighborhood associations of Besòs and Maresme, Tareixa Pardo; and of Trinitat Vella, Roberto Rodríguez; Custodia Moreno from Carmelo and Miguel Romera from La Paz have all called on the authorities to act before it's too late. They explained that these processes are slow and cumbersome, and residents—often vulnerable—frequently find themselves trapped in a bureaucratic maze. They also lamented that they often have to deal with promises from the administration that are later broken. "We're promised a Mercedes, and then we get a bicycle," quipped Miguel Romera. Roberto Rodríguez, from Trinitat Vella, provided an example. He explained that in 2018, they were presented with an urban regeneration project that covered between 85 and 90 percent of the construction costs for the affected homes, but that in May 2025, the coverage was reduced to only 40 percent. "Obviously, the projects cease to be viable for homeowners and residents, and for now, there isn't a single signed project in the entire neighborhood," he added.

Criticism of the Collboni government

Specifically, the FAVB (Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Barcelona) has been critical of the current Barcelona government's approach, led by Jaume Collboni. They have reproached him for abandoning the urban regeneration model of Besòs, Trinitat Vella, and La Pau, where the public sector directly financed and managed the renovations. According to their complaint, in certain neighborhoods, the "self-management with support" model is not working, as the "complexity" of these areas makes it difficult for residents' associations to organize themselves, let alone cover the initial costs of these processes. In response, the FAVB has called for "large-scale political action" and for the City Council to "assume public management of interventions when the population is unable to manage them." She also demanded "affordable public credit lines" and the urgent resolution of "desperate situations with secure commitments for families," with actions that must include the social and structural analysis of the building, a rehabilitation project, affordable financing, and, where necessary, temporary housing. "We are not asking that the owners not pay, but rather that the administration assume the management and procedures, which are complex," emphasized Tareixa Pardo, from Besòs, who also requested that the Generalitat (Catalan government) get involved in the rehabilitation of these neighborhoods.

European funds at risk

Residents' representatives have also criticized the fact that delays in carrying out these renovations could jeopardize the Next Generation EU funds that were partly intended to finance them. The reason is that these funds were conditional on the works being completed by June 30, 2026, which residents emphasize is now impossible in many cases due to the deadlines. From the Besòs district, Pardo explained that once the deadline for the funds has passed, they will consider taking the case to the Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate its management. Sources from the Barcelona City Council responded by noting that they are working with the Ministry and the Catalan Government to ensure that the works do not have to be completed by the summer of 2026 to receive the funds; it would be sufficient for them to have started. Specifically, of the 170 million euros that the council plans to allocate to urban rehabilitation and regeneration during this term, 111.5 million have been requested from European funds. The same sources emphasize that the City Council aims to "improve urban living conditions and the surrounding environment, with a comprehensive approach focused on reducing vulnerabilities in the city's quality of life and strengthening social resilience."