Spain suffers from a lack of instruments and budget in the promotion of officially protected housing (VPO). In fact, in eight years, the number of VPOs completed by private promoters in Spain (59,928) quadruples those completed by public promoters (14,737). And in Catalonia, in the last ten years, 60%-80% of the VPOs have been built by private developers. These are the conclusions drawn from a study by the “Housing and Future” Business Chair of the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the Association of Promoters and Builders of Catalonia (APCE). The document analyzes the promotion of housing in state plans and Next Generation funds and the insufficiency of instruments and budget.
The report studies how, as a result of the last financial and real estate crisis, austerity and budget stability policies were adopted that led to the disappearance of the state housing plans 2013-2016 (2017), 2018-2021 and 2022-2025. Furthermore, according to the report, it has been proven that the regulation of subsidies in the 2013-2016 and 2018-2021 plans was absolutely insufficient to promote officially subsidized rental housing without having to make contributions of own funds.
Throughout this time, promoters have had up to three financing instruments to facilitate the promotions of officially protected housing: qualified loans agreed between the Administration and banking entities, subsidies for these loans and direct aid or subsidies.
The study maintains that, to achieve stability in the programs that make up public housing policies, they should not be subject to short cycles of three or four years, but rather temporary plans should be overcome to build a stable structure of support tools. to these policies.
Furthermore, according to this policy brief of the “Housing and Future” Chair, a volume of own funds of 30% would be required in the case of social rental and 15% in that of affordable social rental, since the current financing model is insufficient to promote this type of housing. Therefore, the figures show that public administrations have not been efficient at all when it comes to articulating an adequate and trustworthy system for promoters, whether public or private.
The report also points out that the elimination of certain tax policies related to the acquisition or rental of housing meant significant savings for the budget accounts of the administrations, but this has not been used either for direct action policies in housing or to establish measures. alternatives with characteristics that serve to stimulate the rental promotion regime. In fact, after the crisis, there has been a drop in resources allocated to public housing policies and the figures allocated to housing promotion that included plans such as 2002-2005 and 2009-2012 have not recovered.
According to the authors of the study, Professor José García Montalvo, professor and director of the Department of Economics at Pompeu Fabra University; professor Josep Maria Raya, director of the Chair and professor of Applied Economics at the TecnoCampus-UPF, and Carles Sala Roca, Doctor of Law and co-author of the report, in the 2022-2025 Plan there is a radical change in the measures and the situation of the builder-developer sector in just one decade.
In the plan there are two programs that include direct aid for promotion, but aimed either at very specific groups (housing for the elderly or people with disabilities) or at developing accommodation and cohousing-type housing models. With these programs, inequality occurs within the sector, since, as they are not universal aid, the promotion of housing is not encouraged for a more general profile of demand that may also have difficulties in accessing housing.
Another turning point in the sector is the Next Generation funds, which aim to promote the construction of social housing in energy-efficient buildings and on public land through financial aid or subsidies. Despite the power of the 2022-2025 Plan and the Next Generation funds, which provide for subsidies of up to €700/m², housing developments may be unviable if subsidized loan lines are not arranged.
In fact, according to the projection of the creation of new homes prepared by the INE and the Territorial Sectoral Housing Plan, the promotion of affordable housing with the support of the Public Administration is needed to build 15,000 homes each year for the next 15 years. , a figure that is far from the production of the last decade.
Therefore, according to the authors of this fourth policy brief of the “Housing and Future” Chair, the need to articulate public-private collaboration mechanisms for the promotion of officially protected housing is evident. In fact, they conclude that the figures show that private developers are, by far, the main producers of publicly protected housing.
