Bondia takes office as Ombudsman of Barcelona, prioritising housing and homelessness

David Bondia has been re-elected and took office this Monday as Ombudsman of Barcelona for a second term that will extend until 2031. In his speech, he identified housing, artificial intelligence, and homelessness as the main challenges facing the city.

The Ombudsman of Barcelona, David Bondia, has officially assumed his second term at the head of the institution after being re-elected last July. At the inauguration ceremony held this Monday, Bondia asserted the "right to live well" in the city and outlined his working priorities until 20231.

Among the priorities he has set for this new stage are three: housing, artificial intelligence, and homelessness. Regarding access to housing, he was emphatic in stating that the current problem "is not a crisis, it is a system failure", and he insisted on the need to prevent the expulsion of residents from their neighbourhoods.

"We cannot limit ourselves to repeating the same answers"

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, spoke at the event to support Bondia's re-election, which he described as a "renewal of a trust built with broad institutional support". Collboni called for the Ombudsman to be demanding in his work, but also to collaborate loyally with the municipal government.

Regarding homelessness, Bondia defined it as "one of the worst scourges of society" and announced that one of his first measures will be the creation of a mediation office within the Ombudsman’s office, aimed at strengthening this task. He also expressed his intention to harness artificial intelligence for the benefit of people, an area he considers crucial in the new mandate.

For his part, the mayor committed to providing the Ombudsman’s office with more human and technical resources to enhance its mediation capacity in neighbourhood conflicts. Bondia faces this new stage with "renewed enthusiasm and excitement" and described it as "the continuation of an adventure" in which he will tackle all the challenges that arise.

With this inauguration, the Ombudsman begins a mandate that will last until 2031 and will focus on housing and social exclusion as its main fronts. The creation of the mediation office will be one of the first projects the institution will implement in the coming months.