Tourist apartments: the City Council is still on time

A couple of years ago, New York decided to put a stop to tourist apartments. New strict regulations were introduced, limiting short stays in private homes. The measure was applauded as a great victory for affordable housing. But ultimately, what was supposed to be a triumph has turned into a monumental mess.

Result? Thousands of small owners drowned, a tourist offer monopolized by hotels, a drop in municipal income, and the most ironic of all: no significant impact on rental prices. Now, even council members and neighborhood communities are calling for urgent reforms. Some are already talking, literally, about backtracking.

That's why it's surprising to see how Barcelona seems determined to repeat the mistake. Taking advantage of Decree Law 3/2023, which establishes the automatic extinction of all legal tourist apartment licenses in November 2028, the City Council has already announced that it will let them all expire. Not a crack, not an exception.

It all seems legal, yes. But is it fair? Is it useful? Can Barcelona afford it?

The arguments used to justify this crusade are already known: that tourist apartments drive up rental prices, that they expel neighbors, that they have no place in residential buildings. But the data refutes this narrative.

Tourist use dwellings (HUTs) only represent approximately 1% of Barcelona's housing stock, with about 10,000 registered units. In contrast, the city has more than 157,000 hotel beds, many of which occupy buildings that could also be used for habitual housing. Since the suspension of new HUT licenses was decreed in 2014, the number of HUTs has remained stable, according to the Barcelona City Council, and, according to the INE, has been reduced by half.

Despite this, during this same period, the rental price in the city has increased by 60%, according to data from the City Council itself. It is difficult, therefore, to argue that HUTs are responsible for the increase in rental prices. Even Carme Trilla, president of the Metropolitan Housing Observatory, dependent on the Barcelona City Council, recognized in an interview that eliminating tourist apartments will not lower prices.

With a problem as complex as housing, it is tempting to build an epic narrative against an easy enemy

Given the lack of evidence, one must ask: what real interest is behind this obsession with HUTs? Here's a hypothesis: with a problem as complex as housing, it's tempting to build an epic narrative against an easy enemy, especially if this narrative has been fueled by administrations to cover up the lack of action in the construction of public housing. And if, in addition, this favors certain guilds that see part of their competition eliminated, the suspicion ceases to be just a theory and begins to smell like reality. Public opinion is volatile: often it only needs a good excuse to point to the politician in office as responsible for all ills. If it begins to intuit that the official discourse against tourist apartments also serves to protect certain interests, those who have promoted it could end up paying the price in the next elections.

As demonstrated in the last session of Moments Estel·lars, organized by The New Barcelona Post and starring Mayor Collboni, we are dealing with a skilled politician, who knows the reality of the street well and who, presumably, will know how to avoid this type of error.

But the reality is that those who end up being harmed by all this are ordinary people. According to data from the Department of Business and Labor of the Generalitat, 85% of Barcelona's HUTs owned by individuals are held by small owners, the vast majority of whom only have one HUT. People who do not speculate, who promote local commerce, generate jobs, and benefit neighborhood communities by improving accessibility and building maintenance, in short: people who help redistribute the benefits of tourism beyond large groups. And it is hard to understand that it is precisely a socialist mayor who wants to put an end to this model that socializes the wealth of tourism instead of concentrating it. Furthermore, a Barcelona without tourist apartments is condemned to transit tourism, turning its back on families from all over the world who are looking for alternatives to hotels, longer stays, and hosts who act as true ambassadors of the city.

The same Decree Law 3/2023 allows for the extension of HUT licenses for five years from their expiration, scheduled for November 2028. The City Council could take advantage of this possibility to make the granting of extensions more flexible for small owners and design a renewal plan that, beyond these extensions, allows the activity to continue under certain conditions. In this framework, the city's urban planning could be adapted to incorporate quality and coexistence criteria: exclude homes with neighbor complaints, promote reinvestment by HUT owners in the neighborhood communities, or establish mechanisms for monitoring good practices. In short, a channel for dialogue should be opened with small owners, who are often the most unprotected in this debate.

Mid-mandate, Barcelona is still in time to do it differently. To avoid the easy photo opportunity and opt for a nuanced and brave policy. One that redistributes the wealth of tourism, instead of concentrating it even further. One that does not reward the powerful nor condemn the middle and working class.

Because, as Chesterton said, whoever marries the spirit of their time hardly survives the next. And perhaps, Mr. Mayor, we are still in time to avoid this outcome.