Catalonia passes law to turn offices into protected housing

The Catalan government has drafted a law that will allow the conversion of vacant office spaces, ground‑floor commercial premises, hotels and parking structures into new protected‑housing units (VPO). The proposal also creates a temporary regime that permits a 20 % increase in building height or density on existing sites, aiming to add between 15,000 and 20,000 VPO units over the next four years.

The law is backed by the PSC and the Comuns and will be submitted to the Parliament as an urgent bill. Junts, a coalition partner, has criticised the measure, calling it a “patch” that infringes on property rights. If approved, the conversion would be automatic in tensioned residential markets, with the goal of easing housing shortages for young people and low‑income families.