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Melissa García-Lamarca. Photo.

Melissa García

Associate senior lecturer

Melissa García-Lamarca. Photo.

Housing and welfare in Catalonia, Spain

Author

  • Melissa García-Lamarca

Summary, in English

Catalonia, like the rest of Spain, is a homeownership society. The most recent official statistics (2011) state that 74 per cent of the population are homeowners, 20 per cent are tenants and 2 per cent live in social housing. Related to tenure status, the state of housing in Catalonia – the second wealthiest autonomous community in Spain – has undergone noteworthy shifts in the first decades of the 21st century. Housing production has swung from record high to record low levels, and a decade-long housing crisis has generated unprecedented levels of evictions and housing precarity. Pressure from highly organized housing movements has prompted policy change to mitigate the latter. This overview of the current state of housing in Catalonia illustrates a paradox: on the one hand, the region has adopted one of the most progressive tenancy laws in Europe and far-reaching cooperative housing programmes in Spain; on the other hand, the region reflects Spain’s long history of supporting homeowners and private housing while systematically undersupplying social housing.

Publishing year

2023-12-15

Language

English

Pages

142-156

Publication/Series

The Routledge Handbook of Housing and Welfare

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

CRC Press/Balkema

Topic

  • Social and Economic Geography

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 9781003830375
  • ISBN: 9781032074337