Barcelona wants to eliminate tourist apartments before 2029 to facilitate its residents’ access to increasingly expensive housing, the mayor of this city in northeastern Spain, which receives millions of visitors a year, announced this Friday.
“The latest regulation of the Parliament of Catalonia allows us, and we are going to take advantage of it, not to renew licenses for tourist apartments (…) and that will allow us to put 10,000 homes on the rental or sale market,” he explained. the mayor of Barcelona, the socialist Jaume Collboni, at a press conference.
The measure, which, if there are no obstacles, must complete its application in November 2028, will allow “from 2029 onwards, the figure of the tourist apartment as we conceive it today will disappear from the city of Barcelona,” he indicated.
For its application, the municipal government wants to take advantage of a decree approved last year by the regional parliament of Catalonia, whose capital is Barcelona, which regulates the number of homes with tourist use licenses in the municipalities with the greatest housing pressure.
Thus, Barcelona City Council intends not to renew or grant any more when all existing ones expire in November 2028.
“The city cannot allow such a high number of apartments to be used for tourist activity in a context in which the difficulty of access to housing and the negative effects of tourist overcrowding are evident and shared,” stated the City Council. it’s a statement.
In the last ten years, rental prices have increased by 68% in Barcelona, indicated Collboni.
Barcelonawhich currently has 10,101 licensed tourist homes, had not issued new authorizations for several years.
After the break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Barcelona has progressively recovered visits until once again placing the effects of overcrowding at the center of public debate.
More than 12 million tourists stayed in the city’s hotels, tourist homes and hostels last year, 6.9% less than in 2019, according to municipal data.
FOUNTAIN: AFP
