In early March, delegates from the housing department in Barcelona (Spain) travelled to New York City (USA) to meet with New York City’s Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) department. The cities have been exchanging solutions and experiences over the past eighteen months on strategies to increase affordable housing and serve extremely low-income populations. During their technical exchange, they explored anti-eviction policies to better understand how to extend their impact. They also evaluated the opportunities and challenges presented by mandatory inclusionary housing (MIH) programmes. MIH programmes use policy measures to ensure adequate social and affordable housing is made available in cities as they grow and develop.

Being in New York City allowed officials from Barcelona to understand MIH programs from HPD's perspective, as well as that of private developers, which is essential for such a programme to succeed. The comparison with Barcelona's own General Metropolitan Plan – which mandates that at least 30% of newly built homes must be allocated to social housing – led them to consider how some aspects of NYC's MIH may be implemented in their context.

The technical visit also provided Barcelona's delegates an opportunity to meet with the leaders of the first and largest community land trust (CLT) in New York City, and with organisers and community groups at the frontlines of the new movement to expand CLTs across the city. CLTs in New York are being used as an innovative new method of working to support the provision of affordable housing through a non-profit, community-based organisation owning land and maintaining control or oversight of homes located on that land.

This visit was the last joint activity between Barcelona and New York City as part of their cooperation through the IUC programme. The success of their continuous knowledge exchange has led them to look for opportunities to continue working together beyond the IUC programme as well.

For more information on Barcelona and New York's work together, click here.

Header image courtesy of Eduard Cabré Romans, City of Barcelona.