Barcelona Buys Apartment Building at Center of Eviction Protests

On Feb. 7, city leaders in Barcelona revealed their latest gambit to prevent real estate speculators from snapping up affordable apartments and converting them into medium-term rentals that escape current rent controls: The city partnered with a local affordable housing provider to purchase a landmark building and prevent its tenants from being evicted.

That’s a strategy that other European cities have also experimented with in their efforts to rein in gentrification, most notably in Berlin. So far, however, reactions to Barcelona’s move have been mixed; some housing activists celebrated the city’s takeover as a victory, while renters’ associations and property owners alike have expressed reservations. The ...