Residents of La Trinitat Vella demand inclusion in a major urban regeneration pact for the Besòs area. They protest that their neighbourhood remains in perilous disrepair while a neighbouring district prepares for a multi-million-euro overhaul.
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A political agreement between the Socialists (PSC) and Barcelona en Comú to pass the city’s fiscal ordinances has prioritised the renewal of the El Besòs i el Maresme neighbourhood. This, however, has effectively sidelined La Trinitat Vella. Here, 432 homes across 75 buildings grapple with severe structural problems, including aluminosis, damp, and deep cracks in their facades and interiors.
Consequently, hundreds of families live in precarious conditions. Some homes require extensive shoring up with support beams to prevent collapse.
A Tale of Two Neighbourhoods
The urban regeneration plan dates back to 2018, when former mayor Ada Colau’s administration first identified both El Besòs i el Maresme and La Trinitat Vella as areas in critical need of intervention. El Besòs i el Maresme, located in the Sant Martí district, now benefits from a new public body with a €400 million budget. Meanwhile, La Trinitat Vella, in the adjacent Sant Andreu district, remains in limbo.
Residents feel abandoned by a process they were originally promised would be a solution. “We don’t understand why we’re left hanging,” said Roberto Rodríguez, spokesperson for the neighbourhood association, Associació Veïnal Taula Trinitat Vella, in a statement reported by Betevé. “We know we still have time to be included in the pact.”
The core of the residents’ grievance lies in a shift in the management model. The original plan proposed a publicly managed system where the administration would contract and oversee the works. According to affected resident Adelina Matos, the subsidies on offer at the time were also more “appetising.” However, she explained that after the pandemic and a change in the municipal government, the model shifted to resident self-management, offering reduced subsidy coverage. This change, residents argue, caused the rehabilitation plan in Trinitat Vella to stall completely.
Crumbling Walls and a Race Against Time
The consequences of years of inaction are stark. For many, daily life is overshadowed by fear. Gloria Arias, an 82-year-old resident, had to leave the family home she had lived in for 36 years. Support beams filling her flat constantly reminded her of the danger; she lived with “the fear the ceiling will collapse,” she said.
A looming deadline for European funding compounds the situation’s urgency. A key condition for accessing the Next Generation EU funds, crucial for financing such large-scale renovations, requires works to be fully completed by this June. Recognising this challenge, the Barcelona City Council confirmed it is working with the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Spanish government to amend the terms, aiming for the crucial date to be the start of the works, not their completion.
For El Besòs i el Maresme, the path forward is clearer. The Generalitat will create a public entity, backed by a €400 million budget, to manage the refurbishment of nearly 4,000 affected properties. This public-led approach is precisely what Trinitat Vella residents demand for their neighbourhood, hoping for inclusion in the same scheme.
Official Response and Future Outlook
The City Council argues that a specific, well-funded plan for El Besòs i el Maresme will ultimately free up municipal resources currently spread across all regeneration areas. Officials contend this will reinforce interventions in other neighbourhoods, including Trinitat Vella.
However, for the 432 families living in deteriorating buildings, such assurances offer little immediate comfort. Their protest is a plea for parity and a long-overdue solution to a housing crisis growing more dangerous by the day. The outcome depends on whether political leaders can summon the will to bring their neighbourhood back from the brink before funding runs out.
This concentrated investment is part of a wider focus on the areas flanking the Besòs river, an area undergoing significant change. Recent developments include a major waterfront revamp set to redefine the city’s tourist map and a substantial €15.5m overhaul of the Sant Adrià power plant.
