The Barcelona Housing Studies Chair publishes the third issue of the Claus d’Habitatge newsletter

The Barcelona Housing Studies Chair has published the third issue of its monthly newsletter Claus d’Habitatge, corresponding to September 2026, a space for dissemination and analysis of the most relevant issues in housing and the city.

Maria José Aldanas analyses the European housing challenge

The issue opens with an interview with Maria José Aldanas, Policy Officer at FEANTSA and coordinator of the Housing Rights Watch network, under the title “La vivienda, una cuestión europea y un reto compartido”. Aldanas analyses how housing has moved from a secondary position on the European agenda to become one of the continent’s major political and social concerns. In her contribution, she stresses that the new Overview of Housing Exclusion in Europe once again shows the scale and complexity of this shared challenge, and notes that the European Affordable Housing Plan reflects a growing political will to act at European level, although the question remains how to translate this attention into real improvements. FEANTSA advocates an approach that combines access to housing, social protection and homelessness prevention, and recalls that the EU can contribute through funding and coordination, but cannot replace the investment and capacity of national, regional and local governments.

Falling sales and rising prices among the headline news

The news section reports the 7.7% fall in home sales in July according to the Association of Registrars; the Brussels recommendation for acceleration plans in tense market areas (EU 2026/2069); the 10.1% rise in housing prices in Catalonia according to the INE; and the allocation of 90 million euros to communities with tense markets, of which nearly 60 million correspond to Catalonia. It also reports the Ombudsman’s proposal for a country agreement to end homelessness by 2035, the delivery of 30 flats to third-sector organisations by Barcelona City Council, and the agreement between the City Council, CCOO and UGT to promote 1,500 public flats under surface rights.

Regulatory and case-law developments in housing

As regards regulation and case law, the newsletter covers Royal Decree 707/2026 on cognitive accessibility; Royal Decree 726/2026 on housing subsidies; Constitutional Court Judgment 53/2026 on Law 12/2023 on the right to housing; judgments 780/2026 and 675/2026 of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia; and the Supreme Court judgments on IRPH clauses.

Publications and studies by members of the Chair

The studies and reports section highlights Pablo Feu’s publications on extraordinary extensions of rental contracts in V-Lex; the SCEPS award granted to Sergi Valera and his team at the UB for a study on naturalised ponds and public space; Juli Ponce Solé’s article on regulatory simplification in the Economic Report of Catalonia; and Josep M. Caroz-Armayones’s study on residential precariousness published in Housing Policy Debate.

Agenda of conferences and seminars on housing

Finally, the agenda of conferences and seminars includes HOWS Barcelona (3-5 November); the Housing First Europe Hub Conference (28-30 October, Rotterdam); the 5th APCE National Housing Congress (7-8 October, Barcelona); and several seminars organised by the Chair on energy efficiency (UAB), administrative discretion and urban sustainability (UB), and the impact of research on architecture and territory (ETSAB-UPC).

The Claus d’Habitatge newsletter can be consulted on the Chair’s website. We encourage you to read it, share it and send us your comments.