Housing policies will open a new battle between Junta of Castile and León and the government of Pedro Sánchez if the Central Executive “touches” the allocation that corresponds to Castilla y León due to its demographic weight, approximately 5.4 percent. Following the remarks of the minister of the sector, Isabel Rodriguez, warning that it will turn off the tap to those who do not comply with state standards in this area, the Community warns that “will use all legal weapons” avoid that the receipt of funds is conditioned on compliance with state regulations in voluntary aspects, such as the declaration of stressed areas which sets limits on rental prices.
In ‘Los Desayunos de Ical’, the Minister of Environment, Housing and Land Planning, Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, raises the tone and gives a step beyond the initial criticism of the Council to Rodríguez’s statements. In fact, it is indicated that they will appeal to the courts if a resolution is issued to this effect, since, remember, the powers transferred involve financing.
“We reject this authoritarianism”insists Suárez-Quiñones, who criticizes the fact that The government uses “threats” and “coercion” so that communities apply a “failed” policylike the highlighted areas that the Council has opposed from the beginning because they are on the basis of “confiscation” since, remember, price controls end up shrinking the market and therefore increasing rents. Precisely, he emphasizes that this had already been warned in 2020 by the Bank of Spain, while specifying that where they have been applied, such as for example in Catalonia they were an “absolute failure”.
More funding and a rural perspective
Beyond these “erratic” policies, here again the head of Housing linked to the “agonizing” situation of the Government and the need to make concessions to its partners, Suárez-Quiñones emphasizes that Castilla y León will ask for more funding for communities in the new National Housing Plan, which will be discussed at the Sectoral Conference on Housing and the Urban Agenda, scheduled for October 3. The councilor said that the State must increase its contribution, because he recalls that in the legislature it contributed 99.5 million of the 830 million deployed by the Council.
In the same way, another of the demands of Castilla y León goes through integrate a greater rural perspective in housing policies designed for the whole country and a change in the structure of support for young people. Suárez-Quiñones affirms that the Government maintains the rent bonus, which, he recalls, was implemented “unilaterally” and which left out three out of four candidates.
In this regard, the Community defended the need to unify these aids with those granted by the autonomies, which in the case of Castilla y León exceeded 40 million euros in its last appeal. The head of Housing insists on the need not to thwart the expectations of the young population with announcements of new policies, which fail to reach them all.
