The last 91 families that lived in the cheap houses of Bon Pastor pending demolition already have their new apartments or are about to receive the keys. Thus, the relocation of residents affected by the renovation of this Sant Andreu neighborhood comes to an end, a long process that began in 2006 and has so far involved the replacement of 590 homes. But it does not end here, since the fourth phase, the one that is being delivered now, has 163 leftovers, including those of a block that is still under construction and a dozen previous deliveries that were left empty. And there is still a fifth to be built with 160 more. A first package of these homes to be awarded will be for the unfolding of family nuclei in which different generations (grandparents, children, grandchildren, uncles…) live together, an innovative formula that the neighborhood has been demanding for years and that the City Council has agreed with the neighborhood association.
In 1929, 784 cheap houses were built in Bon Pastor, the little houses, as they are called in the neighborhood. In the renovation plan agreed in 2003, it was established to build more floors in anticipation of new needs. Thus, finally there will be 913. The first phase, delivered in 2006, had 152; the second (2010), 190; the third (2017), 167 and the fourth (the current one), 244. The 160 of the fifth, which will be divided into four buildings, still does not have a calendar. In all cases, the residents have been able to choose between following the rental regime -they are the majority-, keeping the property with the Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge -the old board of trustees- or buying the house under official protection regime.
“I have very contradictory feelings because I am leaving our little house, which my great-grandparents opened, in which I have experienced many things, but we are going to a flat that is great,” explains Sandra Teruel, 39, who is in the middle of moving with her partner. and their two children. “This was like a small town –she adds-, with a lot of life in the street, where we played; Now it’s going to be very different.” The main improvement is that it goes from residing in about 40 square meters to having more than 80, a storage room and a garage space for a similar rent. Instead of 280 euros a month, he will pay 320. And, of course, he continues, “quality has nothing to do with it, the houses had cracks, humidity, pipe problems, the toilets were clogged… They needed reforms, but it was difficult because you had to ask permission from the board of trustees and it was a lot of money if they were going to be demolished”.
It is estimated that there are about forty new family units from splits. In order to gain access to one of the remaining homes, they must be registered in the register of applicants for officially protected housing in Barcelona, ??prove a historical registration stating that they have always resided in the cheap houses and later in one of the new homes, and that the new family unit is constituted for at least two people who have been living together for two years who do not necessarily have to be couples, also mother-daughter, siblings… In a second phase, homes will be awarded to neighbors also registered in the aforementioned registry who have been registered in other areas of Bon Pastor for at least six months. Reservations will be applied for young people, single-parent families and people with disabilities. The estimate is that more than 500 family units, which will participate in a raffle, meet these requirements. In addition, homes will be reserved for residents of the neighborhood with a favorable report from the emergency table.
The houses that remain to be awarded, already in the fifth phase, will be raffled in the same way as the rest of the public park in Barcelona, ??with the same reserves for residents of the neighbourhood, young people, single-parent families, people with disabilities… One of the four buildings that have to be projected and built will be a block of flats with services for the elderly.
The substitution of small houses for blocks of flats has generated large public spaces that provide an urban quality to this part of Bon Pastor that is obvious. The large pedestrian area stands out with enormous draining flower beds populated by multiple plant species that are distributed throughout all the streets and squares. A pneumatic garbage collection network has also been installed.
