24 hours after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid to protest against rent prices, the government promises to “show strength” to resolve the problem in order to avoid a Spain “rich owners and poor tenants.”
Thus, the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, announced this Monday that the Council of Ministers would approve tomorrow the distribution of 200 million euros for the new appeal of the Young Rental Bonus. It will also launch a regulation “to prevent fraud in tourist and seasonal accommodation contracts”.
Sánchez defended this “Housing is a key issue for this government” and asked asked all administrations responsible for housing – CCAA and municipalities – to “lend their shoulder”, calling for housing law applies because “it has already been shown that it works”, taking Barcelona and Catalonia as examples.
During his speech on the forum The world in progress from Prisa to Barcelona, the President of the Government admitted that “Housing is more of a drama than a right” and that his “commitment” is to “forcefully” resolve what he himself described as an “authentic drama”.
Sánchez, in a nod to the demonstrators, who yesterday considered the government “responsible” for this situation, recognized that “The supply is rare and often the quality is deplorable” and that “there are families and young people who cannot progress or emancipate themselves because housing is a scourge and prevents them from doing so”.
“If we don’t address this issue forcefully society will end up being divided between poor tenants and rich landlords and I don’t want that to happen Spain”, he admitted, to clarify that “housing is a key issue for this government”.
After listing some measures approved by the Government in terms of housing during this legislature, he recognized that “we know that this is not enough”. “Let’s do more” said.
It is for this reason that he asked that the CCAA and municipalities apply the Housing Act because “it has been shown that it works”, while adding that “it does not involve magic wands or sticks in the wheels to be able to implement solutions.
“It is a good law and it works where it is applied. There is the data from Barcelona and Catalonia. I hope that all local and regional administrations understand it,” he asked.
“Social emergency”
This morning, on the other hand, in an interview with TVE, the Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodriguez, showed its support for the protesters who took to the streets yesterday.
“I described the situation as social emergency. We are facing dramatic situations to which we are trying to respond on the part of the Spanish government,” he underlined.
Isabel Rodríguez: “We act with absolute determination (…) We intervene in the regulations (…) one of the first measures I adopted was the declaration of a stressed area in Catalonia and the publication of a reference index” #LaHoraIsabelRodríguez pic.twitter.com/vJPSlWi4WG
– La Hora de La 1 (@LaHoraTVE) October 14, 2024
He thus specified that “we must respond to a shortcoming in our country, namely the construction of a social housing stock meeting European standards. This is already underway.” Likewise, he explained that on the Government side “We are acting with determination and in the right direction.”
The minister recalled that “one of the first regulations adopted was the declaration of tense areas in Catalonia which today makes it possible to reduce the price of rent by around 100 euros, or 5%, wherever the law is applied. At the same time we are mobilizing the real estate stock with the owners’ bonus.”
In this sense, the government spokesperson, Pilar Alegria, defended the housing law as a “formula that works”. He also cites Catalonia, where, according to his data, rent prices have fallen by 5% on average and those who reduce rents receive a bonus on their income since the law was implemented.
“It’s a formula that has positive effects” Insisted the spokesperson, for whom the “excuses” given by other autonomous communities are incomprehensible, among which she expressly cited Madrid, for not applying regulations that work.
Intervene in the real estate market
For his part, the Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, felt it was necessary intervene in the housing market lower rents, put an end to speculation and the proliferation of tourist apartments without permits: “It’s a question of political will.”
For Bustinduy, “this is an absolutely dysfunctional market that functions like a wealth vacuum,” he said in RTVE.
Demonstration under the slogan ‘It’s over.’ We will lower rents’ takes place this Sunday in Madrid.
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Young Rental Bonus
About the Young Rental Bonus, Isabelle Rodriguez He advanced “to these young people, we have directed aid such as these 200 million euros, which we will present this week to the Council of Ministers so that they can be executed by the autonomous communities, from which I have requested more speed and better management thereof.
At the beginning of this month, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda unanimously ratified with the autonomous communities the distribution of 200 million euros from the new call for the Youth Rental Bonus during the Housing Sector Conference .
“We have regulated the rental market, we regulate tourist apartments, we are going to tackle temporary accommodation and those who defend the free market are the ones who have already laid the foundations to bring us to this situation, they are the ones who liberalized the land with the Aznar law to fuel speculation It is those who, with all their efforts, sold these houses to vulture funds. In short, it is they, like Ms. Ayuso, who say that tourist accommodation should not. not be banned in a city in which We know there is more. 13,000 illegal tourist accommodations. And they are the ones who want to hide the promotion of social housing,” denounced the minister.
Rodríguez emphasized “the significant effort” that will be made with Operation Camp, which requires that it be allocated in its entirety to affordable housing and that the protection of social housing “be permanently”.
