Housing specialists call for more resources, strategic vision and political will

The report on financing social housing presented at the congress also concludes that “we must start from the co-responsibility of all agents involved in this problem and have an ambitious vision of housing as a basic infrastructure of the State”. Judith Gifreu, professor of administrative law at the UAB and member of the coordinating committee and scientific direction of the congress, participated in the report on the implementation of social clauses in public construction, which concluded that the clauses should be part of “the actual monitoring of the work”.

A report on safety in the urban environment in connection with housing was also presented, proposing a series of good practices and recommendations. Finally, an analysis on administrative simplification in urban planning and housing was made public at the congress, which generated concrete proposals to simplify administrative procedures for granting building licenses, including automation with artificial intelligence.

In the different debates held during the congress, Juan Antonio Módenes, lecturer in the Department of Geography of the UAB, explained that the housing that is built or released often does not meet the real demand, evidencing a structural deficit, a situation made even more complicated by the arrival of a migrant population with an economic capacity above the local average. And Carles Donat, also lecturer in the Department of Geography of the UAB, pointed out that although building is not the definitive solution, it is essential if the number of households continues to grow, as well as “guaranteeing that what is built responds to real needs and promotes sustainability criteria”. Donat called for more public investment and recalled that Catalonia has only 1.7% of public housing stock.