The reversal of the Constitutional Court on one of the flagship measures of Catalan anti-eviction legislation, which requires the offering of social rent before any eviction procedure, has caused an earthquake among those affected by the housing crisis. Between 2017 and 2023 alone, the application of this rule benefited 19,684 families who were going to be evicted from their homes and who saw how a housing alternative was put on the table.
“This measure made the difference between being able to offer hope to a victim of eviction, giving them something to cling to or not,” laments Juanjo Ramón, spokesperson for the PAH in Barcelona, who assures that this, together with the The so-called social shield has been in recent years “the most useful tool” in Catalonia to paralyze eviction processes. The entity and other promoters of this partially canceled law, such as the DESCA Observatory, have already requested an urgent meeting with President Salvador Illa to discuss solutions.
The Government of the Generalitat responded to the judgment by assuring that it would defend the spirit of the measure and that it would try to find a way to guarantee it. “We are not satisfied with the articles declared unconstitutional,” say sources from the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition. “They have been canceled by the way social pensions are regulated and we are determined to do it in a different way,” underlines the Catalan Executive.
The origin of so-called forced social rental, a real battlehorse of movements for the right to housing, dates back to almost ten years ago, when in 2015 the law on emergency housing was approved in Parliament, who first established turn this obligation into black and white. Although it was not always in force, as it was also used at the time, in recent years it has served to offer alternatives to thousands of vulnerable families, as the Generalitat has been able to verify by the intermediary of the Housing Agency of Catalonia (AHC).
Thanks to its IT application, the Agency received notification between 2017 and 2023 of these nearly 20,000 social rent offers that banks and large landlords had to take up before starting an eviction procedure. In these cases, and in those that may occur before the sentence becomes effective, the Catalan Administration refers them to the respective town halls, which are responsible for finishing supporting the people concerned in signing the social rental contract.
Territorial sources have assured that the number of compulsory social rents resolved between property and families, that is to say of which they are aware, is a “minimum” of 3,000. But the social entities recall that the parties They are not obliged to notify the resolution of the process to the Generalitat.
Fines and pressure to enforce
Although the legislation in force until now provided that the offer must arrive before the start of the eviction process – that is, before taking legal action – the entities complained that the housing alternative was only obtained after fighting it in court or. in the street. “Many evictions have taken place in recent years without this offer, while judges and the administration looked the other way,” criticizes Ramón.
The Catalan Consumer Agency created a reinforcement unit in 2023 to ensure compliance with the standard, which carried out 1,600 inspections in a few months. The program’s first annual report was 246 sanctions against 79 large owners worth six million euros. The accumulation of files from certain companies was such, denounced the director of the Agency, Albert Melià, that they agreed to make his name and the fine public. The Divarian Property fund, with 423, and Promontoria Coliseum Real Estate, with 221, accounted for more than 50% of open processes.
“For certain vulture funds, it is easier to pay a fine than to offer a rental,” laments the PAH.
Housing rights entities are not the only ones to regret the consequences of the decision. Some political parties have also made themselves known. While waiting to see how the current government will decide, Marta Vilalta, spokesperson for the ERC, denounced “the interference of the Spanish courts in Catalan laws” as an “attack on the sovereignty” of Catalonia. “We will look for a way to recover the law,” he assured.
Jéssica Albiach, leader of the Commons, criticized in In the same vein, the CUP stressed that “the protection of vulnerable people is not ensured and protection is granted to vulture funds and large holders”.
Those who have not yet evaluated the TC’s decision are the homeowners’ associations.
Doubts about the scope of the sentence
The ruling of the Constitutional Court, at the request of the PP deputies, actually concerns Law 1/2022, which was approved by a majority in Parliament with the votes of the ERC, the Junts, the PSC, the Comuns and of the CUP, and which sought to extend the coverage of different previous regulations, some of which were annulled by the TC, on evictions and the right to housing. Shortly after, in the same year, the Valencian Community approved legislation also requiring the offering of social rent before eviction.
The TC ruling now considers that this precept invades the powers of the State and partially annuls the Catalan norm. However, as only a statement has been issued by the High Court and the full decision has not been made public, there are some discrepancies as to its scope.
The entities promoting the law understand that forced social rent is only eliminated when it comes to affected tenants, not families undergoing foreclosure. The judgment annuls points 12.1 and 12.2 of the Law of 2022, which modifies a first complementary provision of Law 24/2015, which specifies that the social rent requirement affects “any executive action derived from the claim of a debt mortgage and the resulting eviction proceedings. , then refers to alleged rental cases.
Other legal sources consulted consider that this is the end of the legal coverage available to the forced social annuity. In any case, there is no doubt that it also destroys this guarantee for housing occupied without title and for at least six months by vulnerable families. Or the one which established that if a company acquires housing, it assumes the consequences of non-compliance with the social rental regulations of the former owner.
