The third sector demands legal recognition and financial support as a social housing operator

BarcelonaThe third sector is demanding that the government legally recognize it as a social housing operator so it can enter into social and political dialogue to have a say in housing policies. "Social entities are managing more than 4,000 homes in Catalonia, more than triple the number in 2017, but we need recognition, more funding, and the capacity to mobilize vacant housing in the hands of large housing owners," the co-coordinator of the housing policy working group of the Roundtable of Social Third Sector Entities of Catalonia noted this morning.

At a meeting this Wednesday at the Bofill Foundation, the Roundtable of Social Third Sector Entities of Catalonia presented the report. The housing crisis: responses and proposals from the Third Social Sector, which includes how social entities are addressing the housing emergency and what legislative and public policy measures they propose to combat poverty and housing exclusion in Catalonia.

In a subsequent roundtable discussion, in which Mijail Acosta (representative of the housing management entities of ECAS), Judit Barrera (project director at Cohabitac), Rubén Domínguez (head of the Accessibility area at ECOM) and Sònia Lacalleres participated and moderated by the deputy director of the newspaper ARA, Ignasi Aragay, the need to "see housing as a common good" and also "to involve social rights in the paradigm of the housing emergency" was highlighted.

The sector's proposals

The study, prepared by Raluca Cosmina, Ignasi Martí, and Mireia Yter, all from the Esade Institute for Social Innovation, analyzes the context of the housing emergency and highlights the role of the third social sector. The work also formulates a roadmap with concrete proposals. The main measures they call for are, on the one hand, structural financing for the third social sector in housing, and "thus avoiding dependence on unstable and intermittent subsidies." They also demand legal recognition of the third social sector as a nonprofit public operator of social housing, beyond the role of a one-time executor. In this regard, they propose the creation of an official registry of social housing providers—as already occurs in other European countries—and clear regulations to ensure project continuity.

The proposal also seeks to guarantee the third social sector's effective access to the mobilized housing stock and to preemption and redemption instruments; build a public and shared system of indicators to measure the social impact of housing managed by the third social sector, "which goes beyond counting apartments and allows us to measure the real value generated when a family leaves residential exclusion"; develop a specific regulatory and fiscal framework to encourage the transfer of housing for social purposes; foster innovation and diversification of social housing models adapted to current complexity; and incorporate the third sector "as a strategic and structural agent in the definition and governance of public housing policies."

"We are facing a potentially very significant breakdown in social cohesion," Batllori warned in closing. "More money is needed, but we also need to move housing away from speculation, mobilize vacant housing, approve the law on homelessness, and implement some of the policies we have explained, taking into account that housing is no longer just an element of exclusion for some vulnerable groups, but is moving towards groups of people with regular incomes but who lack access."

In fact, during the session, the housing problem entrenched in the most vulnerable segments of the population, especially immigrants, was highlighted, as was the extent of the problem among the middle classes and young people. At the same time, emphasis was placed on combating hate speech that distorts the vision of social policies, including housing.