The refusal of communities governed by the People’s Party to declare stress zones, which would regulate rent prices where they have soared, exposed the coalition government’s difficulties in implementing its housing policy. The Constitution is clear: they can, and have actually done so, assume powers in matters of land use planning, town planning and housing. So, what can each administration do to solve one of the biggest problems, that of access to affordable and decent housing, that the population currently faces?
“Even if it is said that the powers belong to the autonomous communities, there are a series of determining areas to be able to access housing which are in the hands of the State”, specifies the economist and president of the Observatori Metropolità de Barcelona Housing, Carme Trilla.
“The State has some powers, but few,” recognizes economist Alejandro Inurrieta. They are mainly divided into three groups: “Policy coordination, financing law and urban leasing”. And all these interventions, underlines Trilla, are not so much based on the capacity of the Executive to act in matters of housing, but rather on the influence on “the equal treatment of the different citizens of the country in economic and social matters” .
Financing: he who pays, decides
Point by point. The ministry periodically prepares, in consultation with the communities, its national housing plans. This is the process that began last week at the Sectoral Conference. This is where funding comes in, with transfers of funds to the territories so that they can exercise their own skills. It is at this stage that the central government can intervene in regional policies. According to data from the department led by Isabel Rodríguez, these funds represent approximately 75% of the funding allocated to their policies. And the Executive can use leverage: the minister warned that she would “condition” this distribution on the acceptance by the communities of creating areas of tension.
This funding can be used, through communities, for rehabilitation, construction or various types of assistance, for example for rent. This is the case of the Young Rental Bonus, financed by the State but managed by regional administrations. “If you put money in, you set the conditions: if I want to invest in housing, I set budgets to influence certain lines,” explains Trilla. “The Spanish government is absolutely committed to allocating all state resources to guarantee access to decent and affordable housing for all Spaniards,” Rodríguez said last week.
In a more abstract framework but with a direct impact on households is financial skills. “What the Bank of Spain does, the setting of rates or tax measures influence housing policies,” explains the expert. “The bubble from 1997 to 2007 was clearly financial in nature, with loans granted happily and at low rates. There, the communities have nothing to say,” he gives as an example.
A framework state for regional powers
Finally, there are state laws that, in many cases, serve as a framework rather than a mandate. The main one in this area is the law on urban leases. An example: in 2022, the Constitutional Court overturned a Catalan law that limited rentals in high-price areas because it encroached on state powers. The National Housing Act, approved a few weeks later, protected this assumption. It has established a price index, within its competence, but it does not impose the declaration of stressed areas, which would exceed its capacities, but it only allows it to autonomous governments that wish it.
The wording of the rule is clear: “Housing Administrations may declare, in accordance with the criteria and procedures established in their regulations and within the framework of their respective powers, areas of tight residential market. » And it is in this “they can” that lies the key. “The State sets the general framework, but those who must request this declaration are the communities,” says Inurrieta, who believes that this will make the rule “a dead letter” if “no one from the PP wants to respect it.” »
It is therefore the communities that have a greater capacity to implement their own housing policies. But always within the framework of national regulations. In 2022, Catalonia promoted its own law requiring social rents to be offered before carrying out an eviction. The Constitutional Court considers that it encroaches on the powers of the State. In fact, during the pandemic, the Government promoted the suspension of evictions of vulnerable households without alternative housing, which was extended until December 31, 2024. And, at the public level, the administrations responsible for guaranteeing this protection are the most close ones. to the citizen: municipalities and communities.
The qualification of housing depends on the communities
In general, the work of communities and municipal councils focuses on urban planning. Where, how and when it is built. “The state does not intervene in the question of whether a city expands north or south. These are the municipalities with the ratification, where applicable, of the autonomous communities. They are also responsible for defining the duration for which the protection of social housing or public housing is maintained before moving to the free market. In Madrid, social housing is no longer protected after 15 years. In Euskadi, never.
“Long-term qualification is essential and should no longer be discussed. Since the 1950s, seven million social housing units have been built and have become blurred. In the public domain, this should not be discussed,” believes Trilla. Precisely, the Housing Law attempted to establish actions in this matter, but the Junta de Andalucía took the matter to the Constitutional Court, which annulled this article. The PSOE has already launched initiatives in regional parliaments to “guarantee that public lands always fulfill a public utility”.
The central State has another tool at its disposal to guarantee the permanence of public resources in the system, while promoting the creation of housing. “It cannot impose, but it can encourage, with reduced rate credit lines, subsidies or the use of its own lands, conditioning these measures on the acceptance of its conditions by the communities or municipal councils “, explains Trilla. For example, the State Land Entity (Sepes), which depends on the ministry, is currently promoting 18 promotions. The largest, in terms of number of housing units, is the Campamento action, in Madrid. From this department they insist that their 10,700 apartments will have “affordable” prices, even in the long term, despite Madrid’s regulations, because they will be built on public land. The Executive is looking for formulas to achieve this. In addition, you have at your disposal the Sareb apartments.
Within the framework of municipal powers, it is also a question of delimiting the land on which construction can be carried out. Here, the municipal councils, but also the communities, both from the PP and the PSOE, affirmed that the state land law constituted a brake on new urban developments. The argument is that if a decision supported an appeal against certain aspects of the general urban plan, the entire project would fall, which would generate legal uncertainty. The ministry promoted a legislative change, which did not have the support of the left partners, nor of Sumar, and which the “popular” parties abandoned, despite the fact that their own mayors had demanded it. “The government complied in record time,” said the minister, despite the fiasco of the parliamentary vote.
Communities and municipalities also have powers in tax matters. For example, the property tax and its management are municipal. At the end of September, Alcorcón announced that it would subsidize the installation of solar panels and apply a 150% surcharge on the IBI for empty homes.
Some European cities have implemented measures to increase the stock of social housing at the expense of properties that remain empty. In Brussels, it is downright illegal to have houses without people and several municipalities have already launched a legal tool to take control of them and put them on the market at affordable prices. And Andorra, which banned the purchase of houses from foreigners in 2023 to end speculation, approved in July the “compulsory temporary transfer” of empty houses to use them for affordable rentals for a maximum period of five years .
Inurrieta considers it “very difficult” to promote a rule of this type in Spain, due to its implementation. However, the economist, who was president of the Public Rental Company with Zapatero – an entity liquidated by Rajoy in 2012 – considers it interesting to explore formulas to temporarily incorporate empty housing into the public stock. “We captured houses and paid the owner for their use for five years below market rent, with the commitment to return the property under the same conditions,” he explains.
