Barcelona en Comú urges Collboni to buy five blocks housing 118 residents

Barcelona City Council has the final say on every entire block sold in the city. It is now receiving requests from residents, parties, and entities to intervene in five buildings threatened with eviction.

Residents of five blocks in Vila de Gràcia and Guinardó, housing a total of 118 residents, are asking the City Council and the Generalitat to intervene before their buildings end up in the hands of real estate funds. The properties are for sale, and several funds have shown interest in purchasing them.

The buildings are Ros de Olano 20, Planeta 11, Mare de Déu de Montserrat 123, Travessera de Gràcia 156 and 157. In the morning, residents presented their case accompanied by members of the Tenants' Union, the Cooperative Housing Sector of the XES, and COSHAC. A few days ago, ERC had already requested to buy the block on Mare de Déu de Montserrat street.

In the afternoon, during the October plenary session, Barcelona en Comú brought the same demand to the municipal meeting. Their proposal includes the block at Travessera de Gràcia 156 and four other buildings with threatened residents: Sant Agustí 14, the Papallona block on Llançà street, Concòrdia 41, and Ramon Turró 153. The plenary had been postponed the previous week due to the Toledo train accident.

“Why these five blocks and not others?”

With that question, the fourth deputy mayor, Jordi Valls, responded to the comunes during the debate. Valls assured that the council is working with all properties, both those on the Barcelona en Comú list and those reported by residents, and warned that he does not want to create “false hope.” He also accused the comunes of making proposals that “increase the purchase price.”

Sources from the City Council remind that it is not possible to acquire all the blocks for sale in the city and that each case receives a “careful examination.” The new pre-emption and retract ordinance, approved in this term, sets the criteria for decision-making. Priority is given to purchasing properties with more than ten homes and with vacant apartments, as well as those with tenants under forced extension contracts or vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities, the elderly, victims of gender violence, or single mothers.

The regulation also takes into account areas with a “higher risk of gentrification,” where few buildings have been purchased in recent years, where there are few affordable housing alternatives, or where the state of conservation is poor. According to the same sources, in the cases of Ros de Olano 20, Planeta 11, and Mare de Déu de Montserrat 123, the council “is monitoring” and is in contact with the affected residents. It has not yet specified whether it will collaborate in the acquisition of the properties.

To prevent the sale to funds, residents want to organise themselves into a housing cooperative. They already have the support of Sostre Cívic and La Dinamo, who have shown interest in acquiring the properties, but they need financial assistance from the administrations before the end of the year.