The municipality of Barcelona will buy an apartment building known as “Casa Orsola” to prevent the eviction of many tenants living in it, including a teacher whose threatened eviction has become a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis and months of movements against hypertourism.

Josep Torrent, 49, who has lived in the same apartment in this condo for more than 20 years, was among the tenants who were told their contracts would not be renewed after the investment firm Lioness Investments bought the Art Nouveau Casa Orsola building in 2020. The company planned to start letting the apartments for short-term rentals to tourists, offered on platforms such as Airbnb.

Torrent’s eviction, approved by a court order, was postponed several times in the face of demonstrations by residents against urban gentrification and hypertourism. In one of the protests, hundreds of demonstrators surrounded the building holding a banner that read: “They won’t kick us out. Defend Casa Orsola.”

Spain acts against the effects of over-tourism

His case epitomizes the housing crisis plaguing Barcelona and all of Spain, a growing problem for the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

A problem that plagues not only Spain but many other countries as well.

Faced with this situation, the Barcelona municipality announced today that, in collaboration with the social housing association Habitat 3 Foundation, it will intervene to buy from Lioness Investments the Art Nouveau building, located in the city center, for about 9 million euros, the mayorJaume Colboni told reporters.

“No tenants will have to leave Casa Orsola and all apartments will be converted into rental apartments social housing at affordable prices,” Colboni said, adding that the price paid to purchase the apartment was 30% below the current market value.

The housing rights advocacy group, the Catana Tenants Union, welcomed the fact that the rental prices of the Casa Orsola apartments will not become more expensive through short-term leases, but the organization said the city paid an excessive amount of money to purchase the building.

Lioness Investment, which has not disclosed how much it paid to buy Casa Orsola, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.An end to short-term rentals in Barcelona

Colboni has already announced a ban on short-term tourist rentals from 2028 in an attempt to reduce pressure on Barcelona’s sprawling housing market.

Last June, Colboni announced the decision by Barcelona’s municipal authority to not renew 2028 the permits granted for short-term rentals, ending the operation of platforms such as Airbnb in the city, to limit the increase in rents for residents.

Spain is making efforts to balance its reliance on tourism with citizens’ concerns about excessively high rents due to redevelopment and landlords seeking more lucrative rentals, especially in urban and coastal areas.