Spanish Government Presents Bill on Right To Housing
Spain’s Minister for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, has presented a draft bill on the Right to Housing to the Council of Ministers, which aims to configure housing as the fifth pillar of the Welfare State and as a “powerful tool to fight inequality, marginality and exclusion”. According to the government, this is a historic regulation, which reinforces the exercise of the constitutional right to decent and adequate housing, which the minister defined as that which is “habitable, accessible, energy efficient and which guarantees access to basic supplies without its enjoyment entailing an unaffordable financial effort for citizens”. The bill, according to the minister, aims to increase public housing stock, which only covers 1.6% of households compared to the 10% provided by other neighbouring countries, as well as to combat abusive price rises. The bill prevents the sale of public social housing stock to investment funds, as it is subject to permanent protection and cannot be sold; it establishes the indefinite classification of social housing, and introduces the concept of incentivised A, which is privately owned housing that is granted certain tax or other benefits, on the condition that it is intended to be rented at a reduced price. Raquel Sánchez also stressed that the mobilisation of empty homes is encouraged by introducing the possibility for local councils to apply the Property Tax surcharge to homes that have been empty for more than two years if the owner has four or more homes in the same municipality. The regulation improves the eviction procedure in situations of vulnerability by streamlining communication between judges and social services, which will have to provide a housing response to families. The minister indicated that the period of suspension of mortgage foreclosures has been extended from one to two months when the owner of the property is an individual and from three to four months when the owner is a legal entity. Another initiative is to promote subsidised housing for rent at a limited price. Sánchez has advanced that a 30% reserve is established for urbanised land, establishing the compensation that corresponds to the owners when acquired rights are affected. And of this land reserve, the possibility of 50% of this 30% being used for rental housing is envisaged. A 50% reduction percentage is set for new rental contracts, which may be increased depending on criteria such as a drop in rent in a stressed area or first-time renting of housing in these areas to young people aged 18 to 35. The Government has also analysed the draft bill on the Quality of Architecture, which aims to position architecture as an asset of general interest to be preserved and promoted, and is one of the reforms included in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. The Minister for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda stressed that the Executive aims to bring architecture closer to society and to recognise the value it contributes to economic and social development through renovation, the improvement of buildings and the protection of cultural and natural heritage.
Tags : INTERNATIONAL Affordable Housing architecture Transformation Spanish Government Right To Housing Minister for Transport Mobility and the Urban Agenda Land Reserve Resilience Plan