The public housing stock in Spain is one of the fewest in the EU. Only 2.5% is social housing, while the European average stands at 9.3%. In order to increase this park, it is necessary for the administrations to allocate sufficient resources, as other neighboring countries do. This is what the Association of Promoters and Builders of Buildings of Catalonia (APCE) and Foment del Treball are demanding, given the recent legislative announcements on housing.
Housing is an area that is always used as a “workhorse” in electoral periods, denounced the two organizations in a joint statement. Unfortunately, such concern is not usually reflected later in the form of large budget items. More resources are needed and that the administrations stop transferring their responsibility for social housing to the private sector, they ask. The European Next Generation funds, in fact, have led to the recent announcement by the President of the State Government to open a line of financing from the ICO of 4,000 million euros for the promotion of 43,000 new homes for social and affordable rental, a line that a priori It is welcomed by the sector, although the details will have to be known to be able to assess it more carefully, they point out. In this sense, the two organizations recall that it has been the private sector that has built more than 80% of subsidized housing throughout Catalonia in the last 10 years.
Foment del Treball and the APCE consider that the law for the Right to Housing goes in the opposite direction –as already happened with the Catalan regulations– in order to expand the housing stock and have a diverse offer that responds to the needs of the society.
The tensions in the residential rental market in Spain are attributable to the lack of housing available to the public, which is why the solution is not to intervene in the prices of the reduced existing stock, but rather to increase the supply, they point out. Thus, for them the unwanted consequences of rental income control are well known in all the different countries where it has been implemented: reduction in the supply of rental housing, decrease in future construction or the worse quality of the properties, among other problems.
Recently, they recall in their joint statement, a report was published on the first scientific evidence obtained during the period of validity of the Catalan law 11/2020, on Urgent Measures in the Matter of Income Containment for Housing Leasing Contracts, prepared by the Housing and Future Chair of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the APCE. The results of this policy brief show a reduction in prices of around 5% and decreasing throughout the period, while the falls in the field of supply are around 15%.
In addition, the study highlights other negative effects of the application of the regulations, with changes in the composition of rental homes, since the homes that were above the reference price went on to be sold, which segmented the market in a way random. Likewise, the rental price has become more expensive in homes that are below the reference price and, in this sense, there are also price increases in property sales in the regulated and non-regulated segments after the revocation of the law 11/2020, affect.
For this reason, they point out, really effective formulas must be promoted to influence the growth of the public housing stock: promote public-private collaboration, implement tax incentives for owners to introduce their empty homes on the rental market or improve security. of the owner before defaults or occupations, among other actions.
On the other hand, it must be borne in mind that the problem of access to housing is not exclusive to renting, but also to property, and young people’s access to the property market is pointed out as another of the main market challenges. For this reason, they maintain, it is essential to facilitate the granting of loans for a percentage greater than 80% of the value of the property to young people with good prospects in the labor market or the guarantee of the public sector to young people with the capacity to acquire their first home. , so that the previous saving effort necessary for the purchase is minimized. This would contribute to decongesting the demand for rental housing, especially in large cities.
