Spain decides housing a “social emergency” because the rent is doubled

The Castro blank puts on the builder’s helmet before opening the door to the kitchen. Inside, the ceiling has a large hole that drips water, and it looks as if it can collapse at any moment.

Because the kitchen is unfit, the form should wash the dishes in the bath, and it improvised the culinary zone with the gas stove in the corner of its living room.

Many of her colleagues -arrandators in this apartment near the Madrid railway station have similar problems. They say the company that owns the building has stopped responding to the basic service in recent months, after reports that it will not continue its rental agreements.

“The current bubble rental encourages many large owners to do what they do here,” the form says. “What you need to get rid of the current tenants who have been here for a long time to have short -term tourist apartments, or just to rent.”

Blanca and her colleagues promised to stay in the building, despite the fact that they see as an effort to put them off the owners who were not available for comments on this article.

The rental orders over the last five years, the rent has been recorded during this time, but in this area of ​​Central Madrid has increased in recent years.

“For another home (in this area), I will have to pay double and more that I pay now,” says Blanca. “It’s not viable.”

She and her neighbors are among the millions of Spaniards suffering from the consequences of the housing crisis caused by the spiral costs of rent.

While in recent decades, wages have increased by about 20%, the average rent in Spain has doubled in the same period. In the last year alone, it has increased by 11%, according to the data provided by the Property Portal Proverral, and the housing has become the biggest care of the Spaniards.

It also causes anger, and the Spaniards take the streets to demand the authorities from the authorities to make housing more accessible. On Saturday, April 5, thousands of people will protest in Madrid and dozens of other cities.

The Spanish Central Bank report found out that almost 40% of the families are leased to spend more than 40% of their housing income.

“The current problem is a huge imbalance between demand and supply,” says Juan Vilin, with the “idealist”. “Demand is very good, the economy is growing a lot, but the supply is quickly declining.”

Mr Villén offers an example of Barcelona, ​​where the rental increase has become famous. While nine families competed to rent every real estate in the city five years ago, this number has increased to 54. During this time, rental cost increased by 60%, he added.

“We need to create more properties,” says Mr. Vilen. “And on the side of the rental we need more people who want to rent their objects or are ready to buy real estate, repair them and put the lease.”

The Central Government described the situation as a “social emergency” and agrees that the lack of delivery causes a crisis. Last year, the Ministry of Housing estimated that 600,000 to a million new houses over the next four years are required to meet demand in the country.

This need for greater housing was partly pushing for immigrants who joined the workforce and help to ensure the economic growth of Spain. The ministry also pointed to the lack of social housing, which is 3.4% of total supplies, is one of the lowest in Europe.

In 2007, more than 600,000 houses were built in the midden bubble ownership. But the high cost of construction, lack of land and labor deficit in recent years have been factors for construction restrictions, and in 2024 just under 100,000 houses were completed.

The government has taken measures to stimulate construction, land distribution to build available houses, trying to make sure that public housing did not end in the private market, which was a problem in the past.

But the Prime Minister of the Socialist Pedro Sanchez also expressed his readiness to intervene on the market to bring out the rental prices.

At a recent event dedicated to the opening of 218 low rental apartments in the southern city of Seville, he stated that the Spaniards “want us to act, they want the housing market to act by law, social justice, rather than the jungle law;

The Central Government and a number of local administrations have determined the short -term location of tourists within the problem. Last year, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and several cities on the mainland saw the protests of the locals against the growth of the tourist number, and their impact on the lease of costs on the main complaint.

Several mayors responded, announcing the plans to limit the resolutions to the tourist fence, while Barcelona goes on, canceling the licenses of all 10,000 apartments to the city by 2028.

The Sanchez government has also advanced through the parliament in the housing law, which includes a rental restriction in the so-called “high voltage”, where prices are out of control. Political resistance means that the legislation is still implemented only in the northern regions of the Basque, Navarra and Catalonia, and its success is open to discussion.

Regional and central authorities under the leadership of the Socialists showed a 3.7% drop in rent in the Catalonia “high voltage” since the introduction of restrictions there a year ago, and in Barcelona there is a decrease by 6.4%.

However, critics warn that the rental covers were scared of owners and forced to withdraw from the market thousands of objects.

“The problem is that all measures taken by local or national governments are against landlords,” says Mr. Vilen. “Even people who have been building up to rent, new properties sell their properties because they do not want to go on the lease.”

Another initiative proposed by the Central Government, which has launched a discussion, is a tax of up to 100% on the property purchased by non-residents from outside the EU, on the grounds that such homes are often inhabited. This is a measure that, when it comes out, will greatly affect British buyers.

The conservative opposition has accused the government of too strong. However, since public anger is created over this issue, there are many others who would like the leaders of the country to act much tougher.

Gonzalo álvarez, with Sindicato de Icequilinas E Incequilinos, which deals with tenants’ rights, agrees with the fact that the lack of available houses is a problem, but it insists that it is no longer the answer.

“There is a lack of housing because the houses are captured – on one hand tourist apartments, and on the other hand, all the empty apartments belonging to the Karshun Foundation and banks,” he says. “So, there is no need to build anymore. But the housing we were in the abduction.”

His organization wants the government to impose a sharp mandatory decline in rent and threaten to organize a nationwide strike of tenants who see that the participants refuse to pay the rent.

“(Central and local) governments do not set any restrictions,” says Mr. Alvarez. “So who is going to? We have to do it.”