The Barcelona City Council has opened the draw for 17 affordable rental apartments for young people in the heart of the Raval. The development is at number 116 Carrer de l’Hospital, and are part of Jaume Collboni’s government’s plan to expand the public housing stock with other recent developments such as Illa Glòries (Fort Pienc) or Illa Acer (the Marina del Prat Vermell), which seek to offer housing alternatives at affordable prices.
But this new development has sparked criticism. The reason has been uncovered by Betevé: four of the apartments to be raffled have only between 21 and 21.9 m² of usable space.
Apartments without rooms
The city council explains that these apartments are not the norm. They are not newly built, but are in rehabilitated buildings in Ciutat Vella whose structure makes it impossible to extend or reform the apartments to enlarge them. They remind that there are only 13 apartments like these out of a total of 13,000, so they are “an exception”.
These micro-apartments include a full bathroom, open kitchen and a small balcony, but they do not have a separate bedroom, and the only way to sleep is on sofa beds. The monthly rent will be between 153 and 159 €, plus an additional 50 € for IBI and community expenses.
The 21m2 of these apartments are the equivalent of a bungalow or a hotel room and barely exceed the legal limit for obtaining the certificate of occupancy in this type of building (20m2).
To the criticism, the city council responds that, as stated, they are an exception, and that it is understood that this type of apartments are intended for young people, while developments for families have other characteristics.