In a bold move to address its housing crisis, the city of Barcelona, Spain, is taking decisive action against landlords who leave their properties vacant.
The city’s strategy involves warning landlords to find tenants within a specified timeframe, failing which the city will take over the property and repurpose it for affordable housing.
“The government of the Spanish region of Catalonia told landlords to find occupants for empty properties they own or risk them being expropriated,” said Lisa McCormick, an advocate for housing justice and social equality who endorsed the unorthodox approach.
“This is an excellent way to employ government power as a force for good,” stated McCormick. “Greedy landlords are keeping hundreds of empty apartments, holding out for tenants who can pay exorbitant rents. Barcelona’s initiative sends a powerful message that housing is a fundamental right, not a commodity to be hoarded for profit.”
The city’s housing department recently issued warnings to 14 companies collectively owning hundreds of vacant apartments, emphasizing the importance of filling these units within the next month.
This move is a direct response to the practice of “warehousing,” where landlords intentionally keep apartments vacant, contributing to housing instability and income inequality.
“According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Residential Vacancies and Homeownership report for the third quarter of 2023, there were approximately 17.4 million vacant housing units in the United States, a figure that represents about eight percent of the total housing stock,” said McCormick. “According to the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), roughly 700,000 Americans were homeless in 2023, so there is ample space.”
“The United States does not have a housing shortage, but it does have a hoarding problem,” said McCormick. “We can start to fix the supply issue by banning corporate ownership of homes, the number of such properties nearly doubled over the eight years examined by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.”
Tenant advocates argue that warehousing is a tactic used to manipulate the market, artificially inflating rents and creating a false sense of high demand. McCormick concurs, expressing concern over the surge in rental prices in the U.S. and the detrimental impact on working-class individuals and families.
“Our annual index of rent growth was pretty stable in the last few years, from about 3 percent to 4 percent,” explained Jeff Tucker, a senior economist at Zillow. “This year, it hit a record-high 17 percent. So the time series of rent growth looks like a flat line followed by the beginning of a huge roller coaster.”
McCormick emphasizes the need for the United States to adopt similar strategies to Barcelona’s in addressing the housing crisis. The pandemic has exacerbated the issue, with housing prices reaching unprecedented highs across the nation.
Rent explosions in metropolitan areas like Charlotte, Atlanta, Austin, and Salt Lake City highlight the urgent national need for innovative solutions.
As a vocal proponent for housing justice, McCormick urges policymakers to explore creative avenues to ensure affordable housing for all Americans, advocating for measures that hold landlords accountable and prioritize the needs of lower-income tenants.
“America needs to redesign our economy to build a just and sustainable system where we prioritize people and the planet over endless profit and growth,” said McCormick.