In one of the drawings that have circulated in recent days to call for the massive demonstration that took place this Sunday in Madrid, a house on fire appeared, armed with a brick and a Molotov cocktail. “Housing is a right, not a business,” it reads, with a warning: “This is the last time we ask for this, please.” Fatigue in the face of a situation that is getting worse month by month and which forces more than a million families to make an excessive effort to meet the cost of a roof and prevents only a third of the population from being able to emancipate themselves. before the age of 35. pushed thousands of people to take to the streets to assert their demands: that rents be regulated, that the housing law be respected, but also that it be improved, and that the speculation of vulture funds, which evict towards the residents of their neighborhood.
For some voices, the time for solutions has given way to the time for responsibilities. “Your time is up, you have not taken advantage of any of the opportunities we have offered you,” addressed the political class, through the media, the spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union, Valeria Racu, to demand the resignation of the Minister of Housing. Rodriguez. The union was one of dozens of organizing organizations, but it was able to capitalize on the protest, focusing on the high price of rent, 30% higher than in 2015 and almost 20 points higher than in 2018, when Pedro Sánchez formed his first government.
Although, in practice, the central government has limited powers in matters of housing, in November last year Sánchez recovered the ministry, which had been abolished in 2010, after the bursting of the real estate bubble, to try to shape this question. Axis of legislative power, it focused on the work of the Executive. More precisely, from Rodríguez herself, who took office only 11 months ago, sending a “message of tranquility and hope” to small landowners, the same ones to whom a few weeks ago , she asked for solidarity and “to take charge of this cause”. .” These two statements provoked the anger of social movements.
Ministerial sources emphasize their commitment to ensuring that no citizen has to spend more than 30% of their income on housing. This is a line that national and international organizations, such as the Bank of Spain, the European Commission or the OECD, have set. In addition, it is an “excessive effort” made in Spain by around 1.3 million households. Ángel, a 26-year-old young man who participated in this Sunday’s demonstration, spends more than 35% of his salary to pay for the room in the shared apartment where he lives, outside the city center, because the increase prices does not. This only concerns areas traditionally linked to higher incomes.
In their manifesto, the organizing organizations directly designate all state administrations which, “to a greater or lesser extent, have abandoned their functions”. During Sunday’s march, which, according to the organizers, will represent a turning point, the Executive of the Community of Madrid was highlighted, with Isabel Díaz Ayuso in the lead, but also the center and the left parties of the PSOE, with slogans like “progressive, hypocritical and rentier government” and “guilty and responsible rentier government”.
Ministry sources affirm that they “listen and respond to requests made by citizens” and defend that they have “a clear policy on housing”. Among other measures, the declaration of stressed areas stands out, which de facto corresponds to communities; the parliamentary treatment of the land law, which was submitted to Congress; the end of the Golden Visa; signing agreements with communities and municipal councils for the construction of 25,000 affordable rental homes to be built before June 2026, as well as a funding line for affordable rental housing; or the 2.5 billion euros in guarantees for real estate loans intended for young people and families with dependent minors. “The Government will commit to this fundamental policy for our citizens,” indicate these same sources, who insist on the commitment to defining this issue as the fifth pillar of the welfare state based on the commitment to “more collaboration, more funding and more regulation.
At street level, the demand was unanimous: that rent prices be controlled. The Housing Act has failed to ease the burden on tenants. Although the law allows the declaration of tension zones to control income, communities governed by the PP have refused to do so and those governed by the PSOE have not yet been implemented. At the moment, they are only widely established in Catalonia, where prices have fallen between 3 and 5%, according to city councilor Sílvia Paneque. Euskadi did the same in Errentería a few weeks ago.
Beyond the powers of each administration, the average citizen is mainly concerned about his own: paying more and more expensive housing, while his salary does not increase to the same extent. “Let them control the rents,” demands a young girl of 25, with a job but without the possibility of emancipation. Compliance with state law was a common requirement, focused in this case on the Community of Madrid, but also that it be improved in certain aspects. The control of seasonal rentals, on which the ministry is already working, which is preparing regulations for the coming months, after having left it outside the norm, is one of them.
There is another issue that particularly concerns social movements and thousands of citizens who remember the impact of the 2008 housing boom: the drama of evictions. Because the law gives more latitude to social services to seek alternatives for vulnerable families and the Executive has promoted a moratorium to stop them until 2028, but only for mortgages. “We forget, but we have evictions every week,” says Sonia, a member of the PAH in Vallecas. In 2023, there were more than 26,000 court-ordered evictions, with the majority of people renting.
Vulture funds were also present at the march, with dozens of block residents affected by their real estate strategies: from obtaining public tenders to trying to obtain the greatest possible profitability in the long term , at the cost of putting pressure on residents, leading to a rise in prices. impossible to assume. The Community of Madrid already has extensive experience in delivering housing built on or on public land at favorable prices.
In this sense, the organizers demanded “a firm commitment” to “urgently and gradually” increase the protection stock of social rental housing. The Central Executive has committed to increasing it to 20%, compared to the current 3%, but the communities and municipalities, responsible for urban plans, also come into play here. Regardless, the organizations are offering to recover empty houses, those that have been sold to vulture funds and those in the hands of the government-controlled Sareb, as well as those of investment funds or banks. “No houses without people, no people without houses,” was repeated several times during the march.
In the particularity of Madrid, the residents affected by the works of line 7b of the San Fernando metro, who found themselves homeless after Esperanza Aguirre ignored the technical reports recommending against the works, demanded a regional pact that guarantees their right to decent housing. A request that all groups supported, such as that of restoring electricity supply to Cañada Real, where families and children are preparing to live their fifth winter without electricity.
In all the demands, one word stood out: “good”. The one devoted to article 47 of the Constitution. “All Spaniards have the right to benefit from decent and adequate housing,” he says. “Politicians don’t care that much?” » asked a man.
