Latest measures on social housing in Spain. Social renting in Catalonia

Sonia Lacalle Álvarez, Càritas Barcelona

Sonia Olea Ferreras, Cáritas Española

1. Introduction

On Friday 7 February, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights presented the preliminary report on his visit to Spain, during a press conference in Madrid. He presented data from FOESSA which states that 24% of the Spanish population faced ‘housing exclusion’ and that 4.6 million people live in inadequate housing (ETHOS typology)[1], alongside the fact that the affordability of the private rental market is among the lowest of the OECD and that social housing is almost non-existent (accounting for 2.5%). He unreservedly confirmed the serious crisis in access to the human right to housing in our country, something that we have been trying to tackle on a number of fronts for many years, and underlined the urgent and absolute need for relevant public policies.

2. Housing measures at a state level

The last housing reform that took place at the state level was the Royal Decree-Law 7/2019 on 1 March, on urgent housing and rental measures. Among the many reasons for carrying out this urgent reform, the Royal Decree states: the scarcity of social housing options, which account for just 2.5% of homes in Spain. This figure sorely contrasts with the 15% that can be found in the leading countries in this area, such as France, the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria or Denmark. This is due to a number of causes, including the almost exclusive orientation of public policies towards models of “protected housing” [2]that have been based on a form of ownership for many decades. In this context, it is urgent to reverse this dynamic and break down certain regulatory and financial barriers which make it more difficult to move forward with social renting housing developments for the different Public Administrations. The aim is to provide society as a whole with an instrument which effectively complies with the constitutional right to housing, which is especially necessary for those individuals and households that find it difficult to access the market because of a lack of economic resources.

Or rather:

• The share of social housing in Spain is negligible, accounting for just 2.5% of homes.
• Public policies on housing in Spain have been oriented towards home ownership.
• There are regulatory and financial barriers which affect the development of social rented housing.
• Complying effectively with the constitutional right to housing is essential.
• This is particularly true for individuals and households that are in vulnerable economic positions.

To do this, the law establishes the following social housing measures in its first Additional Provision:

1. The mobilisation of public land belonging to the General State Administration and its dependent bodies, to promote social or affordable rented housing, through public-private collaboration.
2. Modification of the financial instruments within the State Housing Plan in order to promote public-private mechanisms to meet the need for social and affordable rented housing, particularly through the cession of the right of use of public land.
3. A reorientation of the State Housing Plan, that must exclusively support the use of rented housing.
4. Agreements with the relevant competent administrations to speed up urban planning permits, prioritising the use of State Housing Plan subsidies for those that have secured these kinds of agreements.

This Royal Decree-Law was appealed before our Constitutional Court by the Popular Parliamentary Group just a few weeks before it came into force; just a few days ago, the decision[3] was published and found that two of the dispositions were unconstitutional, including precisely the disposition on social housing measures on public land mentioned above. (First Additional Disposition)

Today, neither of these have been implemented on a legal or administrative level; what is more, by constitutional mandate, they have been annulled.

3. Social renting in Catalonia

The seriousness of the housing crisis and the lack of dynamic response from the public powers have made way for the uprising of social movements, united in the defence of the right to housing. Aiming to find a solution to the housing emergency, civil society used a Popular Legislative Initiative that was signed by 150,000 people to propose a law to the Parliament of Catalonia in 2015 entitled “Law 24/2015 of 29 July, on urgent measures to tackle the housing and energy poverty emergency”, which was unanimously approved by the Catalan Parliament.

Law 24/2015 presents different measures to avoid evictions which can lead to the loss of housing for people who are faced with housing exclusion.

For the first time, the concept of “large-scale real estate holders” is mentioned in a legal regulation, defined as financial entities, real estate affiliates, investment funds and legal persons who own more than 1250 m2 of inhabitable land. Furthermore, the law obliges these large-scale real estate holders to offer social renting to individuals and families who do not have alternative accommodation in certain cases of housing loss in which the housing is mortgaged,. The rent in this case must not exceed more than 10%, 12% or 18% of the weighted family income.

Despite this law coming into force, the number of forced evictions in Catalonia has not curtailed. Real Estate Investment Trusts are direct protagonists of the weakening of the human right to access to adequate housing; these are huge, faceless corporations that directly attack the rights of tenants, commercialise housing and treat it as a commodity for investment. They are partly responsible for the global real estate crisis, which is currently the biggest economic sector worldwide, according to the “Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context” from 22 March 2019.[4]

The most recent step towards trying to solve the issues around housing loss in Catalonia was the approval by the Catalan Parliament of the Decree Law 17/2019 on urgent measures to improve access to housing, using its exclusive competence on housing. This law reinforces, redefines and broadens the regulated legal instruments within the previous Law 24/2015 on the housing emergency in order to guarantee access to housing to people faced with housing exclusion that live in accommodation owned by “large-scale real estate holders”.

The urgency of these measures referenced in the Decree Law come from the context in which it exists: the extreme difficulty that a significant part of the population are faced with when it comes to accessing dignified and adequate housing.

Thus, the law broadens the concept of “large-scale real estate holders” to previous owners of at least 15 residential properties and extends to the natural persons. In addition, it broadens the obligation of “large-scale real estate holders” to offer social renting to tenants whose lease runs out, as well as to tenants whose living arrangements and who face housing exclusion as they are not subject to the appropriate contracts.

This is, without a doubt, a creative proposal to try and solve the serious issue of access to and loss of housing in an Autonomous Community where the share of public housing is 1.5% and which is trying to offer solutions for individuals and families who are losing their homes and facing housing exclusion.

It is a huge step forward in terms of defining a “large-scale real estate holder” as well as the obligations imposed on one of the most relevant actor in the global housing crisis: the large-scale real estate holders which include Real Estate Investment Trusts, from which millionaires make profit from the economic difficulties of vulnerable people.

Barcelona and Madrid, 13 February 2020