The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, read an institutional declaration to comment on the rejection in the Congress of Deputies of the two Decrees on housing. Collboni pointed out that the non-approval of these decrees has a "direct effect" on the citizens of Barcelona and on municipal policies to promote the right to housing.
According to the mayor, an opportunity has been lost "to continue changing the rules of the game in housing matters", "to guarantee the right of residents to stay in their neighborhoods", and "to generate a social shield to confront speculation and the continuous and unjustified rise in prices". He recalled that in recent years, the construction of protected housing has doubled and rehabilitation policies have been strengthened.
Collboni highlighted that the rejected decrees "set clear limits for those who want to buy buildings for business purposes". He recalled that existing regulation has already reduced the sale of entire buildings by 32% and discouraged speculative purchases. The announcement of the disappearance of tourist apartments by 2028, which will return nearly 10,000 homes to residential use, further reinforces this change of framework. However, he admitted that residents in neighborhoods like Eixample, Ciutat Vella, or Gràcia live in fear that speculative funds will buy their homes.
Secondly, the mayor emphasized that the decrees "curbed one of the most brutal aspects of the housing crisis: evictions affecting the most vulnerable people". He noted that during the two days one of the decrees was in effect, two evictions in Barcelona had already been stopped.
Thirdly, he mentioned that the decrees provided a "new tool" to tackle tourist apartments. If they had been approved, the process could have begun to approve an increase of up to 150% in the IBI (property tax) for tourist apartments, a measure that would have raised approximately 7 million euros annually for the promotion of protected housing.
The mayor concluded that parliamentary groups had "a clear choice: to be with the people or with the speculators" and that those who voted against them "will have to explain why they choose not to protect vulnerable people from evictions and not to advance in the fight against speculation".
Finally, Collboni sent a message to the citizens of Barcelona, assuring them that the city government will continue to protect residents' right to stay in their neighborhoods. He reiterated the commitment to maintain the application of the Housing Law and the declaration of a stressed residential market area, as well as the goal of eliminating all tourist apartments by 2028, to ensure that "housing must be for living, not for business".
