The high rent is also felt in Barcelona. El Mundo tells two different stories, but linked by a single common denominator: the difficulty of finding accommodation at humane prices. According to data from the latest Fotocasa report, the average price for a room stands at 632 euros per month and in no neighborhood does it drop below 550 euros.
Pays 550 euros a month for a dilapidated room: “You have to get over it”
Darío is 42 years old and lives in the El Carmel neighborhood, north of the city. He has a master’s degree in International Relations, but has not been able to find opportunities in his sector. He is not Spanish by birth and is still waiting to obtain citizenship. To make ends meet he is taking a course to become a Cabify driver.
Eight months ago he started looking for a new home. “I had an initial budget of 350 or 400 euros,” he says. Without a stable contract, finding a roof was a challenge. In the end he had to settle for an old room obtained as a sublet thanks to a contact of his brother. He pays 550 euros a month. “You have to deal with it,” he says. Because “in the end you have nowhere to go, either you do this or you end up sleeping in a tent on the street.” However, he doesn’t imagine his future in Barcelona: “I don’t want this to be my life for the next eight years, nor do I want to find myself at 50 years old sharing an apartment that I don’t like living in.”
Sebastián’s story: “I earn 1,000 euros, I pay 530 in rent”
Sebastián is 24 years old and arrived in Spain last April from Chile. He is a psychologist and is in Barcelona for a master’s degree in human resources. The impact with the city was traumatic: he had found a room before leaving, but the reservation was canceled the same day he arrived in Spain. Desperate, he accepted a room in Les Corts for 550 euros a month.
Then he moved to another neighborhood. Today he pays 530 euros plus around 50 in expenses. He supports himself by working as a waiter for a living. “I work 25 hours a week and earn 1,000 euros,” he tells El Mundo. “So, more than 50% of my salary goes to rent, I can’t save.” His is a story like many others. Increasingly expensive rents and salaries that remain at a standstill. Even in Italy we know something about it. “Living in Barcelona is already impossible now”, he observes, “people are moving to other cities… but how far will this phenomenon go? What is the limit?”.