Grassroots groups to protest government housing decree

A Catalan government decree presented as “an improvement in access to housing" has been dismissed by grassroots groups that accuse the executive of “cheating" and claim that the new legislation will fail to address the “housing crisis.”

"It doesn’t tackle abusive renting prices. The prices of social housing will increase,” said Lucía Delgado, a spokesperson for the People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), a platform founded by the anti-eviction activist and current Barcelona mayor Ada Colau.

The town council led by Colau recently passed rules to force big companies to allocate 30% of new apartments to social housing. Grassroots groups criticize the Catalan government for not extending the measure to the whole of Catalonia.

“Catalonia only has 1% of social housing, and we certainly need more,” said Guillem Domingo, from the DESC Observatory.