Barcelona City Council will allow the opening of unique hotels in the city center. This is a historic demand from the city’s hoteliers’ union. In this way, it was approved this Tuesday in the municipal Urban Planning Commission thanks mainly to the good understanding of the PSC and Junts councilors. The abstention of the socialists was fundamental. The Junts proposal also contemplates reducing restrictions on renting rooms by days in the habitual residence. The councilors of PP and Vox voted in favor.
The agreement still has to be developed formally and technically through a modification of the Special Urban Plan for Tourist Accommodations (Peuat) that lacks deadlines, but in a still symbolic way it represents a turning point in the management of the tourist industry in the city for the last eight years. That of Peuat is probably the most transcendental norm promoted by the commons during his two mandates. In a way we are witnessing the first steps of the repeal of much of the legacy of former mayor Ada Colau.
The complicity shown in these issues by the executive of Mayor Jaume Collboni and the main opposition group was such that during the session it became very clear that the next step, sooner or later, in an already inexorable way, is the modification of the obligation to transfer 30% of each new development to public housing. In fact, the citizen entities closest to the commons have already started a campaign to stop this modification.
In addition, PSC and Junts also had a very good understanding when it came to knocking down the next item on the agenda of the Urban Planning Commission, a proposal from BComú for the City Council to immediately cancel all licenses for tourist apartments that were find a block where there are also habitual residences. PSC and Junts largely alleged technical reasons, but ultimately this is a markedly ideological debate.
Because we are talking about nothing more and nothing less about the instant eradication of some 8,000 legal holiday accommodations, according to the community’s own calculations. In the end, BComú only found half-hearted and somewhat inertia-based support from Republican councilors. All of these votes also illustrated how the municipal government feels much more comfortable dealing with those from Junts, and that the possibility of setting up a left-wing government with BComú and ERC does nothing but deflate. The intensity of the reproaches exchanged by both parties also contributes to clarifying the new political scenario in the city.
The modification of the Peuat proposed by Junts basically consists of allowing the opening of new hotel establishments that the City Council recognizes as unique in the areas known as 1 and 2, that is, most of the center of Barcelona, ??basically in the Gràcia district. to Ciutat Vella and also from Sants-Montjuïc to Sant Martí, passing through Eixample.
“The current Peaut is based on restriction and prohibition,” said Junts councilor Damià Calvet in defense of the proposition. His objective is economic degrowth, an approach contrary to prosperity.” Cities such as Lisbon and Dublin reportedly undertook similar initiatives. What was not entirely clear are the characteristics that a project must present to achieve the category of singular. In principle, it should not contribute to tourist overcrowding, and also have a social return, and also be viable… Those who establish themselves in zone 1, the most central, could dedicate a part of their building to public accommodation facilities. . “We must address the phenomenon of tourism and tourist accommodation establishments – Calvet added –, an activity that pays taxes and generates employment, so that this economic activity has a positive return for the city and the neighborhood in which they are carried out. ”.
The former Housing Councilor, Lucía Martin, called this initiative so many times as ultra-liberal at the service of lobbies and speculators that she ran out of synonyms. “We did the Peuat to put an end to the open bar that you opened,” Martin responded. We have to put limits on tourism to take care of the lives of neighbors and protect the city. Are they really proposing to open more hotels in Ciutat Vella? It is clear that the Junts councilors do not live in Ciutat Vella.” And Martin told the socialists that they could now remove the label of progressives.
The other aspect of the Peuat reform proposed by Junts that also greatly stings the community refers to the rental of rooms for days in the habitual residence, that is, renting a room in the house, which is also known as shared homes. The commons vetoed this activity in a drastic way in the previous mandate, understanding that this practice alters the housing market and multiplies in an exponential and uncontrolled way the number of tourist places in the city.
But many understand that these approaches are exaggerated. The Junts proposal mainly proposes that Barcelona adopt the regulation established by the Generalitat in 2020, which provides for rentals that do not exceed 31 days of stay with a maximum of four beds per home. In addition, it requires that the license be requested by the person who lives in the home, and that he or she does not stop living there at any time. “Many families could benefit from this initiative.”
