Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Barcelona closes out the year with 746 newly built public homes, corresponding to ten housing projects around five city districts. The growth in the municipal stock of flats allows the city to defend the right to housing, through rentals and leaseholds alike.

The homes started being handed over in November and the process will continue in the first four months of 2024. The new buildings have been built through the Barcelona Municipal Institute for Housing and Renovation (IMHAB) and involved an overall investment of 111,40 million euros.

Most of the homes (585) have social and affordable rents, while the rest are being awarded with leaseholds. There are also more than 230 rental flats with specific services for the elderly. All those awarded flats are on the Barcelona Register of Applicants for Officially Protected Housing (RSHPOB).

The addition of the 746 new flats brings the number of homes in the public housing stock to 12,300, a figure which is set to grow further with new developments. Barcelona has nearly 5,000 homes in various stages of execution, directly promoted by the IMHAB, and 2024 will bring the start of the first works delegated to third parties in municipal protected housing. These are for the homes planned in the agreement with non-profit organisations, representing 600 homes with affordable and cooperative rents, as well as the first stage of execution by the public-private metropolitan operator Habitatge Metròpolis Barcelona, which has four developments of 341 flats. In addition, we should add the projects resulting from the agreement with the Government of Catalonia, which in the next few years is set to add 637 flats with protected rents, built on 11 municipally owned sites.

Five districts with more public housing

The new developments are in the following locations:

• Sants-Montjuïc: 2 large projects totalling 180 homes. The first has 3 blocks with 108 rental homes and is located in Carrer de Cal Cisó. The second is a building in Carrer d’Ulldecona, with 72 homes to be awarded with rents.
• Horta-Guinardó: in the neighbourhood of La Clota a new development of 105 homes has been built in Av. Estatut de Catalunya, managed by the cooperative Fem Ciutat, the winner of the public competition that offered the site with a leasehold of 75 years.
• Nou Barris: 2 new developments with a hundred flats between them. One is a block of 31 flats in Torre Baró, in Av. Escolapi Càncer, all offered with rents, and the other is a block of 67 homes offered with leaseholds of 75 years, located in Carrer de Palamós.
• Sant Andreu: 4 new developments for the public housing stock with 345 homes. The first is a building forming part of the remodelling project for the former neighbourhood of low-budget houses known as the ‘cases barates del Bon Pastor’, with 54 rental homes. The second is a double development in the area of Porta Trinitat, in Trinitat Vella, with 54 rental homes and 85 homes with services for the elderly, respectively. The fourth block is entirely for elderly people and has homes with specific services. This block is located at Les Casernes de Sant Andreu and has 152 flats.
• Sant Martí:  one block of homes which will be ready and the flats handed over in the first quarter of the year, with 18 rental homes, located at the junction between Carrer de la Ciutat de Granada and the green corridor of Carrer dels Almogàvers, in Poblenou.