The average compensation paid amounts to 14,664 euros per dwelling. Catalonia is the autonomous community that has registered the most requests since the social shield came into force, with a total of 2,560 applications. However, only 23% (601) have been accepted, while 1,445 (56%) remain pending assessment by the authorities.
The management bottleneck occurred particularly in 2025, when the Agència de l’Habitatge received over 1,200 requests, doubling the figures from the previous year. This surge is mainly due to applications made by legal entities, which account for 70% of the total requests registered since 2021, a percentage that soared to 84% of applications in 2025.
“"Many of the vulnerable families protected by the moratorium live in apartments owned by large landlords, who are mostly companies."
This high concentration of corporate applications suggests that most vulnerable families reside in properties owned by large holders, according to Guillem Domingo, a housing technician at the Observatori Desca. This Barcelona center advocates for the extension of the social shield until the rehousing of all vulnerable families can be guaranteed.
Furthermore, the measure is questioned by experts such as Gemma Caballé, deputy director of the Unesco Housing Chair at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona. Caballé argues that the moratorium implies "excessive intervention at the expense of the owners" and that the compensations, besides being few, are not the most suitable solution for the lack of housing supply.
Geographically, the municipality of Barcelona concentrates 27% of the requests (688), followed by Badalona (5%) and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (4%). This policy debate occurs shortly after the Congress of Deputies rejected the extension of the eviction ban for vulnerable people.
