Barcelona hopes cheap homes will end violent tourism protests

BARCELONA – Barcelona has launched a plan to solve a housing crisis that has helped drive a spate of protests against overtourism across Spain .

The city, one of the country’s most popular destinations for British tourists, was the scene of violent demonstrations in June against “touristification”.

Now, an alliance of banks, investors, residents, architects and local authorities in Barcelona is turning empty flats into 1,300 social houses.

This kind of housing association has not been found before in Spain, unlike in countries like Britain. New Feature

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Casa Bloc, an apartment block in Sant Andreu, a working-class area far from Barcelona ‘s tourist trail in, has already provided 17 much-needed homes to some of the poorest peo