If the difficulty in accessing housing is one of the main concerns of Barcelona residents and the City Council collects a specific surcharge on the tourist tax every year – which is expected to be around 80 million in 2024 –, why not dedicate that amount to alleviate the problem? This is the proposal of the city's tourist apartment sector. They estimate that next year they will contribute 18.5 million euros to the municipal coffers through the tourist tax surcharge that they apply to their clients and they propose that the City Council promote a program inspired by the Generalitat's Young Lloguer. In this way, they could channel monthly aid of 500 euros to 3,000 families.
“The aid could be allocated to young people who cannot emancipate themselves, to mileurist couples who cannot make ends meet or to families who live in neighborhoods with greater tourist pressure such as Ciutat Vella, Sant Antoni or Sagrada Família,” explains Enrique Alcántara, president of the Association of Tourist Apartments of Barcelona (Apartur). The entity has a park of 6,300 active tourist homes in the city, which represents 0.77% of the total homes (808,751, according to Federatur data).
The tax on stays in tourist establishments (IEET) currently sets an amount of five euros per client per day for tourist apartments (2.25 of the general rate applied by the Generalitat and 2.75 of the municipal surcharge, which as of April next year it will be 3.25 euros). Apartur's proposal is to allocate the collection of this surcharge that they receive with the tourist apartments to the implementation of the rental assistance program. Their proposal is to distribute those 18.5 million that they plan to bill over the next year among 3,000 families, at an aid of 500 euros per month. According to their calculations, if the hotel sector shared the objective and joined the formula they propose, then up to 9,000 families in the city could benefit from rental assistance.
“The solution could be immediately applicable if the municipal government, which has full powers, included the measure in next year's budgets, now is the time; It is not a solution to the entire problem, but it could help many people significantly; It is a good measure and a way to contribute to improving things,” maintains Alcántara. Nine years ago, in a meeting with the then mayor Ada Colau, the sector already proposed channeling the income generated by tourism into social housing in some way, “but they did not want to consider it,” she adds.
The City Council plans to receive some 20 million euros from the tourist tax collected by the Generalitat in Barcelona and which will be added to the 80 million from the specific municipal surcharge. This surcharge began to be applied from 2021 and progressively, going from 0.75 euros per person per night in 2021 to the current 2.75 until reaching 3.25 euros per tourist per night or per night in April 2024. tourist arriving by cruise ship.
Taxation derived from tourism will become the third municipal income next year, with a collection of close to one hundred million, which will be allocated to very varied objectives: from the promotion of the city to the air conditioning of 170 educational centers.
