How far can collaborative housing go? Limits to the expansion of the grant of use model in Barcelona 2015–2019

Collaborative housing (CH) initiatives, which aim for decommodified and affordable homes, are growing across European cities. This research addresses the lack of systematic analysis on the limits to the growth and upscaling of such initiatives. Taking Barcelona as a paradigmatic case, the study analyses constraints to the expansion of the grant of use cooperative housing model, which became official public policy after 2015. Data were collected via 16 interviews (December 2019–February 2020). Critically, the study investigates the limits that arose despite strong political support from the progressive city council between 2015 and 2019. The paper proposes a three-fold framework to scrutinise these obstacles. Constraints include the lack of sufficient public land and credit (material constraints), which led to a diffuse network with conflicting rationales (narrative constraints). Simultaneously, reliance on state-citizen partnerships generated unmet expectations and risky dependencies (governance constraints). This nuanced analysis accounts for tensions between the state, intermediaries, and residents, pointing towards more critically aware efforts for CH expansion.