The Government has a clear political position regarding the Housing Law: the situation “is a social emergency that must be addressed,” said Minister Isabel Rodríguez last Thursday on the occasion of the announcement of the streamlining of urban planning licenses. What it is trying now is to find the legal formula to apply the regulations in the areas with the greatest price pressure, which generally corresponds to the country’s large cities, and, at the same time, not find itself facing a conflict of powers. The problem that the central Executive faces is that housing is a regional competence and, in certain aspects such as the case of tourist rentals, local.
The PP refuses to apply the Housing law and, therefore, at this moment the regulations only have a clear way in those autonomous regions not governed by the popular ones. Catalonia is already applying it and Asturias or Navarra are studying it, sources from the Ministry of Housing explained.
To overcome this resounding opposition from the popular autonomies, the Government is studying legal formulas to encourage communities that do apply the Housing Law. The state standard, Minister Rodríguez said last week, says that “when a tense area is declared, the State can intervene in a differentiated manner with respect to other areas.” And she added: “If they do not do it – in reference to the PP governments – I will intervene in a differentiated manner with the areas that comply with the law and I will not do so with those that do not comply.
How can the Government “intervene” in housing matters in some autonomous communities and not in others? With greater “accompaniment,” said Rodríguez. The Executive is studying how to do it, but first it must clarify the legal aspects to avoid causing this conflict of jurisdiction. There are several formulas. Currently, small owners who rent their home at a price below the market can benefit from a personal income tax bonus of up to 90%. This tax aid is already in force in Catalonia. The ministry could also allocate budget funds to those areas that decide to declare localities in their territory as stressed areas.
The legal key is article 18.5 of the Housing Law. The ministry is studying it to determine if it can develop it in a more specific way. In it you can read that the Government, “within the framework of state powers [in housing], may develop, in agreement with the competent territorial administration, a specific program for said stressed residential market areas, which will take into account the diversity territorial, both in urban or metropolitan environments and in rural areas, which will modify or be annexed to the current state housing plan.
The same article contemplates that in these areas the State may “promote collaboration formulas with the competent administrations and the private sector to stimulate the supply of affordable housing in said area and its surroundings.”
The Housing Law, in said article 18.5, enables the central administration to “design and adopt specific financing measures for that territorial area that could favor the containment or reduction of rental or sale prices.” That is, there may be extra resources for the autonomies that apply the state standard, funding that those that do not apply it would not receive. The law also contemplates for those who apply the regulations that the State may establish “additional specific public measures or aid within the current state housing plan, in accordance with the provisions that it establishes where appropriate.”
The Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, stated last week: “I call on all autonomous communities that have this problem to ask for help. I encourage you to respond to the citizens.”
