The Junta de Andalucía delegates to the town councils so that they are the ones to regulate and limit the proliferation of tourist homes in their cities and municipalities, a phenomenon in crescendo in the region, where there are already 116,000 accommodations of this type, which puts stress on historic centers. and popular neighborhoods and that make it impossible for residents to have the option of accessing a house. City councils such as Seville and Malaga, led by the popular José Luis Sanz and Francisco de la Torre respectively, have welcomed this decree and have already announced that they will get to work as they know their framework of action in detail.
This decree on housing for tourist use (VUT), approved earlier this week and which will be the basis of the new Tourism Law, determines that the councils will have the power to limit the maximum number of housing for tourist use per building, sector, area , periods, area or zone “for compelling reasons of general interest” while maintaining the inspection in the hands of the autonomous administration.
A law “long awaited for months,” according to de la Torre, because it is “good that we already had a legal framework” under which to make decisions. Malaga is one of the cities where this problem is most acute: little supply of rental housing and at very high prices, forcing a ‘flight of Malaga residents’ who cannot afford to continue living in the city. On the other hand, the capital of Malaga breaks the ceiling of 3,000 euros per square meter for second-hand homes, according to data provided by Fotocasa. The opposition parties have repeatedly asked the local government to find solutions to avoid this ‘stampede’ of locals who are being banished to other places by this type of tourism.
“I hope that we can regulate in terms of stopping the creation of tourist housing in areas that are saturated,” commented the first mayor, “we are going to see if the decree defines saturation,” which, “by pure logic, I would say that in “an area, in some neighborhoods where more than half already, or from half onwards, is converted into tourist housing, we understand this as saturation, but let’s see what arises in this issue.” What they have made clear, while the Government team studies the text, is that one of the objectives pursued is to guarantee “quality” of these accommodations.
The outlook in Seville is not more encouraging. The city of Seville is the second Andalusian capital with the highest rental price, only behind Malaga. In fact, the data for October 2023, the last published, mark a new price record in its entire historical series, standing at 11.65 euros per square meter. Here, the law of supply and demand does not find a balance either and there are fewer and fewer options to access housing. The proliferation of VUTs leaves some areas of the city deserted that only come to life with the arrival of tourists.
In this sense, the new decree of the Board that regulates this sector is already being studied and analyzed by the Sevillian council whose mayor, José Luis Sanz, has already announced that next week he will become aware of the “instruments” that the Municipal Management of Urban Planning and Environment to limit tourist apartments. Specifically, he said, the Old Town and neighborhoods like Santa Cruz will be given special attention, where the neighbors themselves have warned of the pressure that this type of apartments exert on the daily lives of residents.
Granada sees this problem from the sidelines, as pointed out by its mayor, the popular Marifrán Carazo, who has stressed that the Red City is not as tense as Málaga or Seville. Even so, he said, they will use all the tools at their disposal to prepare the city for the future and will map the areas that may suffer some type of pressure due to the number of tourist apartments that provide coverage, especially in the historic neighborhoods. from the center, the Albaicín or the Realejo.
The first councilor has valued as positive that the Board considers that it is “the responsibility of the town councils” to be able to work, “based” on “the uniqueness” of their cities, in their regulation, and insists that this tool must be used in a “ balanced” and hand in hand with the sector.
The decree, as explained by Juanma Moreno, has the consensus of the sector and its intention is to ensure the quality and better organization of this activity. According to a note from the regional government, the new regulations on tourist apartments will contribute to greater control and knowledge about the number of active homes in each period and who is their true operator, in addition to the municipal power to establish limitations, prohibitions, or conditions. for urban reasons of location or zoning to be able to organize this situation.
The president of the Junta de Andalucía explained that the registration of a home for tourist purposes in the Tourism Registry will be communicated to the town councils so that its urban planning legality can be verified and argued for the incorporation of the figure of “exploiting company” that does not exist in other regional regulations. “The Administration will know which company professionally manages the lodging services. This guarantees the rights of users and third parties by identifying the actual provider of the tourist service regardless of the ownership of the property,” he argued.
Moreno defended that the new decree incorporates new habitability requirements and that comfort requirements are raised and has alluded to another important novelty such as the provision for the celebration of collaboration agreements for the exchange of information on VUTs.
Both the PSOE-A and Por Andalucía consider that this decree, although necessary to regulate this type of accommodation, should not place the emphasis and leave responsibility on the roof of the town councils, but rather it would be an issue that the Board should assume responsibility for. .
Juan Espadas, leader of Andalusian socialism, has maintained that “the Junta of Andalusia has to clarify itself”, and although raising “the ball to the roof of the town councils is the favorite sport” of the president, Juanma Moreno, the Andalusian Administration “has powers both legislative as well as tourism policy, and also from the point of view of territorial planning to decide and regulate in stressed areas in a much more forceful way that facilitates the town councils later making specific decisions regarding licenses or requirements for inspection”, among other issues, as highlighted.
Along these lines, he has demanded “coordinated action” from the Board, from the premise that, although “ultimate control will be carried out in their municipalities by the city councils, it is evident that the regulatory coverage and public policy that must be developed goes far beyond the simple inspection of establishments”, and in any case “the growth of this sector must be limited, because it is damaging opportunities and expelling it from the housing market and also increasing its price”, according to has settled.
For her part, the deputy spokesperson for the parliamentary group For Andalusia, Esperanza Gómez, has asserted that “transferring responsibility to the city councils” in this way “is nothing more than an abandonment of functions” of the regional Executive. “This is a problem that must be addressed bravely” since “depopulation of part of its natural inhabitants is occurring in many parts of Andalusia because people are leaving because they cannot access housing, due to the lack of “an offer that means that almost everything is in the hands of vulture funds, which what they do is buy all the properties that are becoming empty and adapt them for tourist use.”
“The Board cannot ignore the negative impacts that tourism generates on the environment or habitability in cities,” stated the representative of Por Andalucía, for whom, if the Andalusian Government “leaves everything in the hands of the town councils , what he is doing is giving up his role of political leadership, among which is regulating so that our cities are not theme parks.”
