This Wednesday, the plenary session of the Cortes debated two non-legislative proposals on housing, recognized by all groups as a fundamental problem for citizens, but there was no agreement. PP and Vox united their voices to ask the government to repeal the housing law and the rest of the opposition requested a stock of public rental housing from the Junta de Castilla y León.
The “popular” Mercedes Cófreces and Emilio Berzosa denounced that the central government’s housing law “did not work and is wrong,” an opinion shared by Vox parliamentarians Carlos Menéndez and Susana Suárez; while the socialist lawyers José Luis Vázquez and Rubén Illera criticized the “non-existent” housing policy of the Council, highlighted the contribution of the Central Executive, when competition is autonomous, and accused the PP of using a right as “a business,” Ical says.
The PNL of the PP had the support of Voxthe vote against the PSOE, Pablo Fernández and Francisco Igea and the abstention of the UPL-Soria Ya and Por Ávila. It calls for repealing the housing law and developing a new one with the consensus of the communities, increasing Castilla y León’s funds in the new state plan, abandoning “the path of imposition and threat” to autonomy and to carry out the announcement of the President of the Government of 180,000 social homes.
The Vox addiction amendment has been integrated into this text so that tax deductions for the acquisition of a habitual residence and the habitual rental of a house are recovered. Lawyers from the PP and Vox defended incentive policies against market intervention, as supported by the PSOE and Podemos.
Within the socialist PNL, which trailed the votes in favor of the UPL-Soria Ya and Podemosthe no of PP and Vox and the abstention of Igea and Por Ávila, it was proposed to comply with the Housing Law, a stock of public housing for affordable rent with 5,000 housing units over the next two years, to declare stressed residential market areas and create the public housing corporation to coordinate and manage these policies.
The popular Mercedes Cófreces, in the presentation of the text of her group, said that she believed that housing is a right, but she criticized the approval of the norm without consensus with the communities, she appealed to reports of experts who reflect this today. that supply has fallen to the minimum and prices are at the maximum, and declared that the article on stressed areas, whose declaration is not obligatory, only applies in one community (Catalonia).
All opposition speakers, with the exception of Vox, criticized his presentation to the Cortes and questioned the PP about the role of its deputies in Congress, while Cófreces responded that the increase in rent prices last year affects all citizens and highlighted an increase of 12 percent in Spain and 7.9 percent in Castile and León, which was framed by incentive measures.
Although with nuances on the points, Carlos Menéndez (Vox) provided his support by estimating that the national standard has not corrected the ” anomalies ” of the real estate market and added that the rental offer has collapsed due to protection of owners and if, in the opinion of his group, to squatters, as well as the increase in prices.
Criticism of the board
In the socialist presentation, José Luis Vázquez emphasized from the outset that housing is the exclusive responsibility of the Authority but that the Government contributes eight euros out of ten through the 2022-2025 national plan with 121 million compared to the regional contribution of 24 million, to which he joined “disloyalty” for not having respected the recent housing law.
Vázquez presented “effective measures” implemented by the Spanish government, such as the Youth Bonus, with a total allocation to Castilla y León of 21.6 million euros which benefited 3,827 young people from the Autonomous Community. “The main obstacle to access to housing is the Council“They have no planning, no model, no public park, no public model,” described the parliamentarian.
The socialist called it essential not to disqualify social housing and to guarantee 30 percent of the family unit as the maximum rental price. “They are turning a right into a business,” criticized Vázquez, who defended the government’s talk of incentives for communities that respect the law while those that do not compete with their own funds.
Lawyer Pablo Fernández (Unidas Podemos) supported the measures proposed by the socialist opposition but went further by asking the central government to intervene in the market to control rent prices, a point on which he criticized the minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez. This is why she described it as a “mistake” to have appealed to the solidarity of the owners.
“PP members, there is no one here who lives for your lousy public policies of housing”, launched Pablo Fernández, who accused the PP of “little work” and of having brought an initiative to the Cortés of its sole competence. “You have to have rennet”, he declared, to request measures to respect the right of access to housing and “not to speculate”.
The lawyer of the Joint Group Francisco Igea asked the PP what his group is doing in Congress in response to what was presented today to the Cortes and listed the low number of foreclosed homeslike 370 in the Rehabitare plan. “Stop advertising and get to work in an exclusive competition,” he concluded.
The deputy of León José Ramón García said that there was a deficit of social housing both in rural areas and where businesses are located, he said that it was a debate on the distribution of wealth due to the desire to centralize the industrial fabric in large cities and regretted that young people cannot find decent housing due to high prices, although he did not support the points of the PNL of the PP, since the repeal of the norm indicated that it corresponds to the Congress.
The Sorianist Juan Antonio Palomar accused the Government and the Council of not respecting the promised housing and demanded measures to remedy prices in stressed areas, while being in favor of a public rental stock and a public company. In addition, he proposed an amendment aimed at carrying out a inventory of ruined goods in municipalities with less than 3,000 inhabitants.
Susana Suárez (Vox) blamed the PP and PSOE for the housing problem for their policies that “affected” the real estate market with less supply and higher prices and highlighted the government’s housing law, which led in “precarious conditions without housing”. , which is why he asked for more social housing, protecting the owner and recovering deductions for the purchase of habitual residence and for rental.
