New housing controversy in Barcelona. With the issue of Casa Orsola still burning, the ARA newspaper has published a report that focuses on the policy of Jaume Collboni’s city council regarding the rule that requires developers to allocate 30% of new real estate developments and major rehabilitations to subsidized housing.
According to the report in the Catalan newspaper , the consistory has stopped sanctioning developers who dodged its application in 2022. During this time, the inspection services had detected 17 cases of non-compliance and five sanctioning proceedings were initiated. However, with the arrival of the PSC to the mayor’s office, these files were withdrawn and new inspections were stopped.
Apparently, in September 2023, only three months after the constitution of Jaume Collboni’s government, the Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge i Rehabilitació (IMHAB) would have started to file sanctioning proceedings already initiated. The execution of these files would have involved fines of between 419,000 and 735,000 euros. In addition, the IMHAB would have also archived the other 12 proceedings that were open but in more initial stages.
The City Council denies the accusation
After the publication of the article this weekend, this Monday the City Council has made an emergency appearance at the request of ERC and BComú to explain the situation. The first deputy mayor, Laia Bonet, denied the information published by the newspaper ARA, and said that “all files are still alive and with the possibility of ending in sation”.
However, she pointed out that, since taking office, the council has opted for a different procedure to that of the previous government: first it asks the developer to restore the urban planning legality and, if it is not complied with, the sanctioning process is initiated. Bonet has affirmed that “they have the firm intention of enforcing the regulations” and that they will go “to the last” consequences in each case.
Bonet stressed that Colau’s government initiated sanctions in five cases without having previously restored urban planning legality, which, according to her, generated legal uncertainty. In contrast, the current government of Jaume Collboni prefers to give a period of time to ensure that the regulations are complied with first and, if not, to impose sanctions.
A government opposed to the 30% rule.
Collboni has been against, since its implementation in 2018, the rule that obliges developers to allocate 30% of new real estate developments and large rehabilitations to subsidized housing, as they consider that the rule has slowed down housing construction in the city.
For this reason, they have expressed their willingness to “relax” the rule. To do so, there are several ways and possibilities:
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Allowing the grouping of reserves of protected apartments in a single building within the same neighborhood, instead of requiring that market-priced and affordable housing coexist in the same staircase.
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Exempt rehabilitations from the 30% obligation, applying it only when only the facade of a building is preserved and the rest is built new, or exempt them directly.
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Open the possibility for a “non-profit operator” to build the social apartments.
Critics point out that the rule has not stopped new construction in Barcelona, and that the alternatives, such as grouping the reserves of protected apartments in buildings or in other neighborhoods, is a classist measure that encourages the concentration of poverty and the stratification of neighborhoods by class.