Launched by the Barcelona Municipal Institute for Housing and Renovation (IMHAB), the overall investment was 44 million euros, with a subsidy of 2,6 million from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda. This latest batch of homes means that the keys to 1,719 officially protected homes in the city have been handed over during the current term of office.

Leaseholds and affordable rents

The homes with affordable rents will have prices roughly from 418 to 724 euros a month, depending on floor space, while the leasehold flats will have prices of between 125,352 and 212,232 euros, most of them with parking spaces.

Leaseholds are a formula that allows people to purchase the rights to the homes for 75 years through a public deed similar to a purchase. This system means the land will remain under public ownership, ensuring that the homes remain within the city’s public housing stock. Once the lease finishes, the home comes under municipal ownership again.

This batch of homes means that 146 of the 238 homes at the Illa Glòries development have now been handed over: 60 in Block B, 51 in Block A and 35 in Block D.

Key project for public housing in Barcelona

The Illa Glòries project, the city’s largest public housing development, is made up of four buildings that have 238 protected homes of different types between them: affordable rents, social rents and leaseholds.

As is usual with public developments, some of the homes with affordable rents have been reserved for different collectives:

• 21 homes for the under-35s
• 17 for local residents
• 7 for single-parent families
• 3 adapted for people with reduced mobility
• the rest for general applications

New public housing hub in Glòries

The development is located between Gran Via, C/ Encants Vells, C/ Castillejos and Pl. Glòries, in a space that connects L’Eixample with the Parc de la Canòpia Urbana.

The buildings feature different sustainability criteria, such as:

• green rooftops to reduce the heat island effect
• solar panels to generate renewable energy
• systems for reusing greywater

The area around Glòries is becoming consolidated as one of the main hubs for public housing in Barcelona, with almost a thousand protected homes between projects completed and those in progress.