What is emphasized is not the rent, but the homeless

The Minister of Housing, Isabelle Rodriguezindicated a few weeks ago that the Executive “will condition the funding” that it allocates to the autonomous communities for housing policies on the application of the law.

“I cannot treat equally those who respect the law, who make efforts and respond to their fellow citizens, and those who, by attacking the Government, demonstrate insubordination,” justified the minister. Today he has backed down, but only half way: he will not punish those who do not execute, but he will reward those who do.

“Insubordinate” is a somewhat bold adjective to describe the rejection shown by some Autonomous Communities, if we consider that the housing authorities in this country are autonomous. Maybe they have something to say about that, I said.

What the minister is doing by threatening a policy of punishment is revealing the government’s true intentions: it is not a question here of exploring effective ways to resolve the housing crisis, but rather of subjugating autonomy to the ideological program of the Executive. central.

An executive that one day defends that Catalonia deserves its own economic agreement to legislate according to its differences, and the next day tries to impose a policy of absolute centralism that punishes those who dare to deviate.

The tensions over rents were the last trench in which the central and regional governments wanted to go and die and kill.

And, while politicians play the battle for housing, the only victims that really occur are among ordinary people, who look at the prices with a magnifying glass in a Mercadona that reminds them that VAT has increased on products of base while they receive notifications from Idealista and Fotocasa about apartments you will never live in.

To those to whom the government, which, I insist, has been in power for six years, says that the fault is the lack of solidarity of the owners and those who drive Lamborghinis.

In the meantime, Where is all the social housing they promised to build?

The ultraliberal discourse doesn’t do much for these people either, who sometimes tend to look down on them and tell them that their problem is that they want to live on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid.

Rent is not stressed. People are tense. And what is a miracle is not Sanchista’s rocket economy, but the fact that it has not (yet) caused a real social explosion.

Perhaps it is because the main victims are families and we cannot take to the streets to demand social justice when it comes to the aging of our parents, the next meal of our children and how we are going to pay for the rent increase.

Perhaps this is because the solidarity to which the minister appeals is truly found in the family, the authentic protection network of this society which shelters those who cannot find their place in the real estate jungle. Among these children who do not leave their parents’ house, but also among these parents, now grandparents, who go to live with their children.

A country in which a young person is systematically denied the opportunity to lead a fulfilling adult life (yes, this includes being able to access decent housing) is an ungrateful country.

When we say that the housing crisis is a problem, we say it because we are talking about issues that go to the heart of human dignity: the ability to put down roots, the possibility of maintaining a family, the ability to exercise true freedom and autonomy. .

Moving an entire generation forward in the light of this housing crisis means doing it with an entire generation of young people mutilated in their opportunities, frustrated and discouraged by jobs to which, day by day, they see less meaning because They are not up to the task. serving their vital needs.

And everyone who is responsible for all this They decided to turn a fundamental dignity issue into another moat for political guerrillas..