Barcelona opens 2026 rental subsidies with one million euros, expandable

The Barcelona Housing Consortium has approved the multi-annual call for rent payment benefits in the city for the year 2026, charged to the budgets of the 2026 and 2027 financial years. The agreement, adopted by the Consortium’s Permanent Commission in the session of July 24, 2026, is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona on September 4, 2026, with the official reference CVE 202610137336 and reference BDNS 923775.

The call establishes the conditions for access to the benefits under a competitive bidding regime and the procedure for granting them, and is governed by the revised text of the Regulatory Bases approved by the Consortium’s General Board on December 12, 2023 (DOGC no. 9112 of February 29, 2024, and BOPB of February 27, 2024). The agreement is signed by the manager of the Consortium, Gerard Capó i Fuentes.

Budgetary Allocation

The initial budgetary allocation for the 2026 call benefits is 4,350,000.00 euros, with the following distribution:

• 650,000.00 euros corresponding to the 2026 financial year budget.
• 3,700,000.00 euros corresponding to the 2027 financial year budget.

The agreement authorizes the expenditure charged to the Consortium’s budgetary application 480.0001, subject to the existence of sufficient credit. Furthermore, it enables the manager to modify the call in the sense of increasing or decreasing the amount up to 1,000,000.00 euros, depending on the needs of the different rent aid calls, as well as to extend or advance the deadline for the admission of applications according to budgetary availability.

Who can apply for the aid

The benefits are intended for natural persons residing in Barcelona who hold a rental contract for a home located in the city that constitutes their habitual and permanent residence, provided they have low or moderate incomes that jeopardize their social integration. The main access requirements are:

• To prove legal residence in Catalonia for five years, two of which must be immediately prior to the application.
• To be registered (empadronat) at the home for which the benefit is requested.
• To have weighted incomes for the coexistence unit not exceeding 2 times the IPREM (single persons), 2.5 times (coexistence units), or 3 times (persons with disabilities or high dependency).
• To allocate a percentage of income equal to or greater than 30% to the payment of rent.
• That the monthly rent amount does not exceed the maximum limit of 1,100.00 euros.

Tenants of housing owned or managed by the Agència de l’Habitatge de Catalunya or the Institut Municipal d’Habitatge i Rehabilitació de Barcelona, as well as those who have received the benefit for four consecutive years, cannot be beneficiaries, with the exception of people over 65 who were already receiving it on December 31, 2012.

Deadline and amount

The application period begins on September 7, 2026, and ends on October 16, 2026, both inclusive. Applications may be submitted preferably by electronic means through the Consortium or in person by appointment at the offices of the Xarxa d’Oficines d’Habitatge de Barcelona.

The monthly amount of the benefit is calculated by subtracting 30% of the weighted income of the household unit from the current rent, with a maximum amount of 300.00 euros and a minimum of 20.00 euros. Exceptionally, in cases of risk of residential exclusion duly accredited with a favorable report from municipal social services, the amount may increase up to a maximum of 500.00 euros per month. The right to receive the benefit extends until December 2027.

The call comes in a context of pressure on the rental market in Barcelona, where the economic effort of many households exceeds the recommended threshold. With an initial allocation of 4.35 million euros and the possibility of expanding it by another million, the aid aims to alleviate the burden of rents for people with low or moderate incomes and prevent situations of residential exclusion, in an application period that opens this same week.

Fuente: Butlletí Oficial de la Província de Barcelona, no. of September 4, 2026, other entities section, pp. 1-34 (official reference: CVE 202610137336).