Across Europe, housing is in crisis.

Limited social housing and a 93% rise in short-term rentals are driving prices up while wages stagnate, leaving millions unable to afford secure homes. Beyond the current geopolitical crisis, extreme temperatures continue to account for rising energy bills. As buildings account for 36% of EU CO₂ emissions, Europe needs to deliver more energy-efficient homes without deepening this social and environmental crisis.

In Spain, where social and affordable housing remains below 3%, the challenge is particularly acute. But across Catalonia in north-eastern Spain, an alternative housing system is emerging: one that recognises housing as a human right, a pillar of the welfare state and a path to addressing inequality and climate change.

Spain’s housing system has long relied heavily on home ownership. Its low stock of social housing leaves public authorities with limited power to intervene on price rises. When Spain’s property bubble burst in 2008, it exposed a housing system built on speculation rather than stability. More than 3.4 million homes were left empty and hundreds of thousands of families were evicted.

The echoes of the financial crash still reverberate today: declining access to homeownership has pushed more households into the rental market, increasing pressure on rents. The same forces have seen speculative investors and lucrative tourist rentals displacing long-term residents. By the 2010s, housing costs rose nearly 70%. In 2024, more than 27,564 households were evicted across Spain,........

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