The Villavecchia Foundation renovates their temporary apartment accomadations, a vital resource for displaced families

26 · March · 2025

This 2025 has seen the impactful renovation of the seven apartments in our organization, following the two renovations that took place in 2023.

The lack of housing accommodation near the hospital can present a serious problem for families that are required to stay in Barcelona while their children receive the best treatment for a grave illness such as child cancer.

The existence of these temporary accomadative apartments are vital in the economic backdrop of the average hotel room in Barcelona charging 190 euros per night in 2024, according to data gathered by the Guild of Hotels of Barcelona. Without this housing support, many families are forced to look for precarious alternative options, ending with debt accrual for simply staying close to their children in these moments of great vulnerability, especially when these situations of illnesses lead to the loss of income (family members having to take temporary leave to care for their child), and the accumulating costs (displacements, medications, complementary therapy options…). To find a place to stay without knowing how long they have to be in Barcelona and close to their respective healthcare center is a costly and complex option.

A Foundation floor near the Hospital Vall d´Hebron

This is the situation of many families living in Barcelona each year in order to attend complex care treatments. These people are derived to the principal hospitals from the catalan capital from other points of Cataluña or the State.

Currently, the social organizations with ties to the hospitals offer only 41 units of accomdative housing in the metropolitan areas of Barcelona, 7 of which are offered by the Villavecchia Foundation. In these housing accommodations, a comforting and adapted environment is guaranteed for the displaced families, and in cases like ours, the accrued costs, maintenance, and cleaning services are covered.

A room in one of the floors of the Villavecchia Foundation

The positive impact of this social initiative is undeniable; the recovery of the patient is most effective when they can enjoy a private and comfortable space, and when their caregivers can be present in their current state. Additionally, during cancer treatment, the children are forced to remain isolated from the world due to their lowered defense system.

It is important to strengthen these essential resources and to guarantee that no family has to choose between being displaced to offer better treatment for their child or financial stability.

Because of this, we maintain a connection with the respective areas of social work in hospitals with pediatric care, in order to give an answer to the strong demand for temporary housing accommodations from families of displaced patients.

The increase of domestic transplants and treatments that force one to live near the hospital, the elevated price of living in Barcelona, the impossibility to rent a place during these uncertain times, and a growing social precariousness can make these accommodative housing options more necessary than ever.