Sleeping in a Basic Fit: €25 a month, the low-cost housing solution
Living in a Basic Fit for €25/month: the phenomenon growing in Barcelona as an alternative to the housing crisis. Data, comparisons, and the Japanese model.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Living in the gym: the €25-a-month strategy gaining traction in Barcelona
Early in the morning, employees at the Basic Fit in Vallcarca encounter the usual scene: someone has spent the night in the massage area. The person, a gym member, pays €25 a month.
For many, it represents the most affordable solution to the housing crisis in Barcelona.
In a city where the average rent for a room exceeds €400, a 24-hour gym membership is being presented as an accommodation alternative. The facilities offer showers, lockable lockers, air conditioning, and, practically speaking, a place to sleep. The most inventive users supplement the experience with a van or self-service laundry facilities, all for around €300 a month.
The phenomenon is not new globally: in Japan, internet cafes offer booths for overnight stays priced between €10 and €16, or up to €25 for 24 hours. These spaces, equipped with internet, beverages, and reclining chairs, have served as refuges for thousands of precarious workers. The comparison with Spanish gyms is inevitable.
Some see a business opportunity here: converting a gym into a kind of 'living-gym,' with 10-square-meter rooms rented for €100 a month. However, this proposal clashes with legality: a gym does not possess an occupancy license (cédula de habitabilidad). But the emergence of this use case attracts investor interest given the genuine demand for affordable housing.
Meanwhile, companies like Basic Fit are seeing their membership numbers grow, not all interested in fitness. The situation has coincided with an increase in the company's stock valuation. Issues such as lack of night staff, unmonitored cameras, and lockers being used as storage units are causing tension. In some neighborhoods, residents have complained about people living in the gyms, and some establishments have had to modify their operating hours to curb the problem.
The perplexing fact is: if the equation is so favorable, why aren't more people living in these gyms? The answer suggests that not everyone can afford even those €25, and extreme precarity leads to survival methods that are even more invisible. The matter remains open.
Early in the morning, employees at the Basic Fit in Vallcarca encounter the usual scene: someone has spent the night in the massage area. The person, a gym member, pays €25 a month.
For many, it represents the most affordable solution to the housing crisis in Barcelona.
In a city where the average rent for a room exceeds €400, a 24-hour gym membership is being presented as an accommodation alternative. The facilities offer showers, lockable lockers, air conditioning, and, practically speaking, a place to sleep. The most inventive users supplement the experience with a van or self-service laundry facilities, all for around €300 a month.
The phenomenon is not new globally: in Japan, internet cafes offer booths for overnight stays priced between €10 and €16, or up to €25 for 24 hours. These spaces, equipped with internet, beverages, and reclining chairs, have served as refuges for thousands of precarious workers. The comparison with Spanish gyms is inevitable.
Some see a business opportunity here: converting a gym into a kind of 'living-gym,' with 10-square-meter rooms rented for €100 a month. However, this proposal clashes with legality: a gym does not possess an occupancy license (cédula de habitabilidad). But the emergence of this use case attracts investor interest given the genuine demand for affordable housing.
Meanwhile, companies like Basic Fit are seeing their membership numbers grow, not all interested in fitness. The situation has coincided with an increase in the company's stock valuation. Issues such as lack of night staff, unmonitored cameras, and lockers being used as storage units are causing tension. In some neighborhoods, residents have complained about people living in the gyms, and some establishments have had to modify their operating hours to curb the problem.
The perplexing fact is: if the equation is so favorable, why aren't more people living in these gyms? The answer suggests that not everyone can afford even those €25, and extreme precarity leads to survival methods that are even more invisible. The matter remains open.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (155 replies).
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