For too long we have wanted to address the housing problem as if it were strictly a municipal matter. As if administrative borders could contain social, economic, and residential dynamics that have long since overflowed them. Today, however, reality is stubborn: housing in Barcelona can no longer be understood—or solved—without a metropolitan perspective.
The data confirms it. The rental market in the city continues to be extremely tight, with demand growing much faster than the available supply. New construction is progressing at an insufficient pace, the social housing stock is structurally low, and, in parallel, a part of the private stock is shifting towards less stable formulas, such as seasonal rentals. The result is well-known: many people who would like to live in Barcelona simply cannot.
Given this scenario, the market's—and families'—response has been metropolitan. L'Hospitalet, Badalona, Santa Coloma, Cornellà, Sant Adrià, Esplugues, Gavà, or Castelldefels are no longer "alternative" municipalities, but a central part of Barcelona's residential system. Not because they have decided it politically, but because the market and necessity have pushed in that direction.
This displacement of families is the result of a voluntary decision based on the affordability differential. When housing prices grow far above incomes, residential mobility becomes a survival strategy. Accepting more minutes of transport in exchange for an affordable rent is, for many households, the only option.
Therefore, thinking about housing solely from the central city is a misguided approach. The challenge is metropolitan, and so must be the response. This implies coordinating land, planning, public investment, and collaboration with the private sector at the scale of the entire real urban area, as well as a solid mobility strategy. Ensuring effective and efficient mobility is indispensable given the new pattern we face: families who remain linked to Barcelona for work, family, studies, or cultural interests, but who reside in the metropolitan area.
From my point of view, this new pattern implies assuming that every new affordable home built in the first or second ring is also a housing policy for Barcelona. And it means, above all, moving from a reactive logic to a shared long-term strategy.
Housing is not just a market issue or an ideological debate. It is an essential infrastructure for social stability. And, like all infrastructures that make a large metropolis function —transport, water, energy— it cannot be planned in watertight compartments. Accepting that housing is a metropolitan reality is not giving up on Barcelona. It is, precisely, the only realistic way to ensure that it remains a vibrant, diverse, and accessible city.