Just hours after the mayor of Rivas Vaciamadrid, Aída Castillejo, announced that her municipality would ask the Community of Madrid to declare it a tense zone, the spokesperson for the regional government, Miguel Ángel García, assured that the response would be “ No “. “. The same that all localities that offer it would receive. The council had prepared the technical report and a specific plan of measures to resolve the problem of access to housing and the increase in rental prices. “They didn’t even have time to read it,” lament municipal sources.
This case is not unique, but it reflects the strategy that the People’s Party is executing on housing law with the help of its regional presidents. With Isabel Díaz Ayuso, from Madrid, in the lead, but supported by the rest of the territorial leaders. This Thursday, at the gates of the Sectoral Conference convened by the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, the “popular” councilors showed their unity with a group photo after a statement from their respective governments in which they opposed the declaration of tense areas, for many municipalities. who asked for it.
In the case of the Community of Madrid, Rivas is not the only municipality that has requested, even without an official institutional response, the declaration of a stressed area. Fuenlabrada, Getafe, Ciempozuelos, Parla and Alcorcón also did so. The mayor of the latter municipality, Candelaria Testa, estimated in March that the declaration of a tense zone, which Ayuso denies, would mean that “instead of 1,100 euros, citizens could opt for lower rents, around 800 euros” . The councilor announced last week her intention to present to the Assembly, with the rest of the council, a Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) which will allow the measures included in the law to be implemented.
In Catalonia, prices are falling
In their statement, the PP governments express their “categorical rejection of the Spanish government’s attempt to impose its failed and ineffective housing policy”, which they have not implemented in practice. In their writings, they justify their decision not to declare tight market zones in their territories “and therefore not to intervene in rental prices” because “these measures only cause a reduction in the supply of housing and an increase in prices. So far, the only autonomous community capable of analyzing in practice whether this measure actually increases rents is Catalonia, which began implementing this measure six months ago. His advisor, Sílvia Paneque, recognized Thursday that “a certain effect” was starting to be felt, with price drops between 3% and 5%.
In Galicia, the Town Hall of Santiago de Compostela has expressed its intention to ask the Xunta to declare stressed areas. To this end, he has commissioned a preliminary study – one of the requirements established by law – from the Territorial Studies Group of the University of A Coruña to justify the request, which could be ready at the end of 2024. For the moment, which hasa submitted the official request is La Coruña. He did so just a year ago, in October 2023. According to the Xunta, it was not a formal request, but rather a letter sent to the Galician Housing Institute, to the following which additional documents were requested.
The government of Alfonso Rueda has repeated one thing and its opposite in recent months. He initially declared that declaring tense zones was “counterproductive”. Later, he would consider doing so if a city council requested it. In July, Councilor María Martínez Allegue assured that if a municipality requests it and complies with it, it will be accepted. This Thursday, the Xunta logo was the first to appear in the PP’s joint declaration. By mid-morning, Martínez Allegue stood out again and, although he was opposed to it, he assured that he would process the requests and that, if they meet the requirements, “all that will remain is, well safe, to respect the rules of the State”. regulations.”
In the Canary Islands, five municipalities have requested the application of article 18 of the National Housing Law. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Granadilla de Abona, Adeje, La Orotava and Villa de Mazo requested the declaration from the Government, the Canarian Coalition and the Popular Party. Here, the Regional Executive, which is not in favor of the measure, has required the municipalities to establish their technical reports, which the regulation entrusts to “the competent administration”. In Catalonia, this work was promoted by the Generalitat. A few months ago, the spokesperson for the Canaries, Alfonso Cabello, indicated that it would be necessary to “monitor the arrival of requests”.
The Generalitat Valenciana is also against tense areas. And, as a competent administration, it will maintain its position to the end. Even above the request of two of its municipalities, Sagunto and Denia, which requested it. In May 2023, before the municipal and regional elections, Valencia had also requested it, but the new mayor, María José Catalá, rejected the measure.
So far this year, the municipalities of Cuenca and Azuqueca de Henares have approved motions to declare housing tension zones. It was in January and February respectively, but, although municipal sources confirm having formalized the request, the General Directorate of Housing assures that it is not aware of any request. President Emiliano García-Page recently indicated that the solution to the housing crisis would be to build 300,000 units per year and estimated that his region is “fortunately” “more established and with a more balanced population.”
“There is no need to prepare a map of stressed areas”
In Cuellar, a municipality in the province of Segovia, which has around 10,000 inhabitants, in April requested the Junta de Castilla y León to apply this measure included in the standard. President Alfonso Fernández Mañueco then estimated that “it is not necessary to draw up a map of stressed areas”. His advisor Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones insisted on Thursday that “intervention in the market by limiting the amount of rents produces a reduction in rental supply and therefore an increase in prices”.
The Government of Aragon also opposes tense areas. “It is not the appropriate instrument to combat the increase in housing prices in tourist municipalities,” said its president, Jorge Azcón. According to data from the Ministry, only the municipality of Canfranc requested it, but withdrew its request after the announcement of 30 social housing units as part of a program of the Aragon More Housing Plan 2024-2030.
In several departments, there is no demand. This is the case of the Balearic Islands, where the map of municipal power is colored PP blue. Or even Cantabria, where the Minister of Housing, Roberto Media, declared that he would “under no circumstances” declare stressed areas. In La Rioja there are no applications either. Not even in Murcia, where the ministry indicates that “it will not make any declaration of stressed areas”, even if they request it, “because it does not have a real effect on the increase in the supply of housing, as has been demonstrated in the sites where it has been applied. This media questioned the Murcian government before knowing the declarations of the Catalan councilor, which confirm the opposite.
In Andalusia, all provincial capitals and most of the most populous cities with skyrocketing rents are governed by the PP. Thus, no municipality has requested a stressed zone. Indeed, in Malaga, where the average rent price is 14.5 euros per square meter, with a cumulative increase of 46% in less than three years, the PP and Vox rejected a PSOE motion on this subject in February .
In Extremadura no requests have been registered either. Regardless, the Commission insisted on its refusal to declare tense areas at a time when in Cáceres, for example, record rental prices were recorded this summer and university students are having difficulty finding a accommodation.
Euskadi already applies it and Asturias and Navarre are waiting
Errenteria has been added to the list of stressed areas opened by Catalonia and which already cover 90% of the population. The Ministry of Housing now has three months to approve the declaration. Lasarte-Oria, Zumaia and Galdakao are also in progress and Irún, Donostia, Vitoria and Bilbao are expected to join them soon. “Errenteria is the first and has opened and marked a path that can be useful to many other municipalities. In this sense, I would like to congratulate the Errenteria City Council, because it has done things correctly and in collaboration with the Basque Government. It surely happened later than desired, but legal certainty is also important,” declared Basque councilor Denis Itxaso, who is part of the socialist contingent of the PNV-PSE government. Precisely, the PNV voted in Congress against the norm and took it to the Constitutional Court.
In Navarre, the government is working to draw up a map of the real price of rents in the community, which it hopes to have ready by the end of the year. From then on, the Town Halls, led by Pamplona, will be able to request that the declaration be effective. The third vice-president and head of the branch, Begoña Alfaro (Contigo/Zurekin), has repeatedly confirmed that she will apply the rental price regulation.
He also requested the declaration of a stressed zone in Xixón, in the neighborhoods of Cimavilla and L’Arena. It was approved in plenary session in November 2023 on the proposal of Podemos, with the votes in favor of the PSOE and the IU and the rejection of Vox. The government team, made up of the Forum and the PP, abstained. The Asturian President, Adrián Barbón, has already indicated his intention to accept requests from anyone who requests them, following the technical report commissioned by his government.
This information was prepared with the collaboration of the editions of elDiario.es
