Spain’s housing crisis could find relief through housing associations, a model addressing the country’s chronic shortage of affordable rental properties. The European Commission recently presented its first-ever housing plan, calling for a major increase in social and affordable housing stock.
Your browser does not support the video tag.Across Europe, there are 25 million such homes-almost equal to Spain’s entire housing stock of 26 million. But many aren’t publicly owned.
“There isn’t one specific model,” explains Javier Burón, director of Navarra’s public housing company. “Each European region has its own typology.
Housing Associations Offer a New Path for Spain
In general terms, housing associations are third-sector organisations with mixed or private capital. They specialise in providing, managing, and developing social and affordable housing. However, they differ from traditional developers because they’re private, non-profit organisations operating within a highly regulated framework.
“Housing associations clearly play a complementary or substitute role to the public sector in providing social housing,” says Carme Trilla, president of the Metropolitan Housing Observatory.
Instead, most protected housing development in Spain has been for sale. A developer builds homes with capped prices, sells them, and that’s the end of their involvement. However, “When you put rental housing on the table, traditional developers aren’t interested,” Trilla notes.
The Spanish and Catalan governments’ commitment to public rental housing-aimed at resolving the housing deficit-has created the need for a specific legislative framework to enable these entities to operate.
A Call for New Legislation
“We need a housing associations law that provides anti-speculative guarantees and limits their profits,” argues Burón.
Housing Associations: Key Details
Currently, organisations from Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Madrid have drafted a proposed law they’ll send to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda for parliamentary processing. Despite parliamentary divisions in Congress-stemming from the Spanish government’s housing policies clashing with PP-led autonomous communities refusing to apply them-Burón remains hopeful.
The push for housing associations represents a significant shift in Spain’s approach to its housing crisis.
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