A Colauist beach bar says the housing problem is racism

The Institut de Recerca Urbana de Barcelona (IDRA) has published a study on immigration and rental housing. The report tries to debunk some claims such as immigrants receiving more rental assistance, or that they drive up prices. In addition, they categorically state that the housing problem "is not a lack of apartments" but "speculation" and "discrimination". 

It should be noted that this entity linked to the Sindicat de Llogateres has received €1.1 million in public subsidies since 2021. It is part of the network of associations that was born and grew under the protection of Ada Colau's government in Barcelona. Although most of the public money they receive comes from the Generalitat de Catalunya.

The Colauist think tank now aims to "fight demagogues with data". They make statements such as "immigrants pay similar rents but live in the worst apartments". Jaime Palomera, director of the institute, states that it is "pure and simple discrimination".

He claims that most foreigners do not compete for the same apartments as the native population. "They are condemned to a submarket of housing," he says, "old and poorly maintained apartments, in abusive conditions". 

Other data, other reality

The reality is that, according to experts, behind the increase in housing prices are factors such as lack of supply, the failure of regulatory measures, or population growth. Population concentration has led to increased pressure in urban areas. 

One only needs to observe the parallel evolution of the population and housing prices. Prices soared by almost 10% in the last year, 11.8% in the case of rentals (data from Idealista). According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), the population in Spain has increased by 115,612 people (254,900 lbs.) to 49 million inhabitants, of whom 7 million are immigrants.

Hypocrisy of the left

This same week, it has become known that rent price regulation has led to a drop in supply and an increase in prices in Catalonia. Barcelona is consolidating itself as the most expensive place to rent in the entire country: €1,650 on average. In addition, it is the most pressured territory with 437 applicants per home.

This is the confirmation of the failure of interventionist policies approved in Catalonia. It is mainly due to the pressure exerted on governments by entities such as IDRA and the Sindicat de Llogateres. Barcelona is the true reflection of the failure of interventionism, since housing became more expensive under Ada Colau's government than anywhere else.

Those who pay the consequences of this failure are the citizens, who have to pay more and more for rent. That doesn't matter to IDRA and the rest of the entities that live off public subsidies. This helps explain the collapse of the left at the polls.