Isabel Rodríguez: "They said it was impossible to lower prices and maintain contracts, and we've done it."

BarcelonaIsabel Rodríguez (Ciudad Real, 1981) visits the ARA on the first anniversary of the entry into force of the index that regulates rental prices, the flagship measure of the state housing law, which arrived two years ago to respond to a crisis that is already the problem of greatest concern to citizens.

Your portfolio perhaps represents the greatest concern for a significant portion of the population. Do you fear that this problem, if not resolved effectively, will distance citizens from politics?

— We are working to ensure this doesn't happen. It is certainly among the main problems today, but I am in Catalonia precisely to demonstrate that the actions of the Spanish government, as well as the Generalitat (Catalan government) and committed city councils, such as Barcelona, ​​are yielding positive results. Results that translate into price reductions and the maintenance and stability of rental contracts.

What would you say to a couple who can't afford to buy an apartment today, yet have a relatively decent income?

— This may be the tragedy of this crisis: it doesn't just affect the most vulnerable or those with fewer resources, but anyone in the middle class, any worker, may be struggling to pay the prices in this market. I must tell you that we are working to stop this from happening, and we are succeeding. Of course, we shouldn't lie to the public either, because the public is intelligent; these are policies that take time.

This spring will mark two years of the new law and one year of the price cap. Although there are autonomous communities that don't apply it because they haven't declared stressed areas, what's your assessment of the law?

— Positive. With the data in hand, I can tell you that in Catalonia the average rent reduction in all stressed areas has been 3.7%, and in the case of Barcelona, ​​6.4%, and that at the same time, 17,000 new contracts have been signed in the last year, since the stressed areas were implemented. Why have rental prices dropped? Because we were told that it wasn't possible to intervene in the housing and rental market and lower prices while maintaining stable contracts, we have achieved that.

Seasonal rentals are a problem in Catalonia. If you start looking for an apartment now, you'll find very little supply, and much of it is seasonal. Why wasn't this regulated at the time?

— It wasn't regulated in the Housing Law because the Urban Rental Law recognizes that seasonal accommodations are not homes. The problem is that some people are using these types of contracts to circumvent the guarantees and security that the Urban Rental Law offers. Should there be seasonal contracts? Yes. For whom? For students, for posted workers, for you or me if we must relocate for medical reasons. But what we need to stop is fraud, which is what's happening. That's why we've also gotten to work, being the first country in the European Union to develop a European regulation, and that registry is working well. And of course, we're providing tools for the autonomous communities to pursue this fraud and sanction those who don't comply with the law.

Do you already have data from this short-term rental registry?

— Right now, they must be close to 10,000 because it's true that the pace is very significant, and we're very pleased to have reached this agreement with the College of Registrars, with whom we're working on this tool that will make this fraud impossible. Platforms will not be able to market illegal tourist accommodation or seasonal rentals except for temporary reasons.

Your government has advocated for tax breaks for those who can truly stem the rise in rents. How will these be implemented?

— They're already in effect in Catalonia, and I encourage those who have lowered the price by only 3.7% to lower it by 5%, because if a landlord decides to lower the price for their tenant by 5%, they can receive a discount of up to 90%. In Catalonia, there are almost half a million private, small-scale landlords who rent out their homes. We believe this is an important measure that we want to expand across the country because, unfortunately, not all autonomous communities have the commitment of the Generalitat (Catalan government).

Prices in Madrid are rising dramatically. Are the Catalan economic model and the Madrid economic model almost a contradiction today?

— On the subject of housing, antagonistic. Here we have a president who knows the reality of his fellow citizens, and his own leitmotiv It's about serving, as President Isla says. Serving is about being close to people's problems and providing solutions. And, on the other hand, we have a president of the Community of Madrid who thinks there's no housing problem, when Madrid has the highest prices in all of Spain. The market is voracious; it devours the income and salaries of middle-class and working-class residents of Madrid, and in the face of this, its president is looking the other way.

The Generalitat (Catalan government) has announced it plans to double the tourist tax and raise taxes on large property owners. Would you support extending this to the rest?

— Without a doubt. And, furthermore, I believe it's also a positive task from the perspective of tax education, if these taxes, as has been promised here, ultimately have an impact on housing policies. I believe we should intervene, and therefore, I applaud this initiative and, above all, the fact that a portion of this revenue can end up in housing policies.

This January, President Sánchez announced the creation of a fund to enable regional governments and municipalities to strengthen their inspections of seasonal rentals. For now, Catalonia has approved a sanctioning regime. What resources will be used to implement this?

— We are currently working with the Generalitat (Catalan Government) to continue advancing this collaboration. Relying on the best practices of public companies is always positive, not only from the Generalitat (Catalan Government), but also from the metropolitan area and the City Council, which have promoted public housing at a good pace, streamlining public administration procedures. That's why one of the announcements made by the Prime Minister is to establish a state-owned public company that will also promote all the land owned by the General State Administration and Sareb housing that has already stopped being sold.

And how many apartments have been transferred so far?

— We've given ourselves a deadline while we finalize this strategic plan to analyze which of these homes we're interested in directly assigning. We estimate that we'll be able to make around 30,000 available to the public in the short term. At this time, what we've taken is the administrative step because this was regulated by law to halt all these sales, which by law were required to take place.

The Constitutional Court has eliminated some articles of Catalan laws related to housing. What is the solution when there is a difference in ambition or speed between two governments on issues of access to housing?

— Well, I always value all the public administrations that work toward fulfilling this right. Certainly, since President Illa took office, there's been a much more fluid relationship because there's greater political harmony that's easy to understand. We're party colleagues, which makes it easier to understand the world and life.

The other day, ARA explained that rent prices in Catalonia have grown by 29% in the last decade, and wages by 0.39%. Are we, as a society, sitting on a powder keg?

— Well, wages have risen by a little more than 0.5%. I'm not familiar with the study or the report, but the minimum wage alone in this country, thanks to the actions of this government, has risen by 61% not in the last decade, but in the last seven years. Wages today are still tied to the cost of living and especially to dramatic housing prices, without a doubt, so we must help prices fall.

These are data taken from the National Statistics Institute's annual labor cost survey.

— At no point do I smooth things over. I know I'm addressing the main problem facing thousands of Spaniards today. This makes us work with more conviction, with more determination, knowing that if other people were in power today, with different approaches than those we defend from the Socialist Party or the PSC, then the response would surely be Ayuso's: do nothing, say nothing's happening: [in Madrid there are] up to 14,000 tourist apartments and 10%. That's not our position. In recent years, we've allocated €20 billion for housing policies, while the current Ministry of Housing budget is €3.5 billion.

Could the new geopolitical situation, which will force the Spanish government to spend more money on defense, be detrimental to the welfare state?

— The welfare state cannot exist without security. We are in a neighborhood where security has been a major issue in the debate about the impossibility of coexistence, when the residents of the Raval neighborhood felt unsafe and could not exercise other rights, such as the right to freedom of movement and the right to peace of mind during their rest hours in their own homes. Therefore, without security, we cannot develop. Unfortunately, we face many threats very close to us, and I believe this is a debate we should not trivialize. But I also know that the Prime Minister, who clearly defends this position of guaranteeing security at the European level, is clearly committed to housing policy, and we will commit all the necessary resources to address it in our country and during this term.

You often praise President Isla, but the success of the President of the Generalitat will depend largely on the implementation of the new financing system. Can a unique model for Catalonia be accepted in Spain?

— In Spain, everything within the framework of the Constitution can be accepted, and these are the terms on which the Spanish government always conducts its dialogue. My praise for the president comes from the certainty of knowing that he is a politician who understands what he owes and how we should conduct ourselves in public life, with honesty, rigor, and seriousness. I have no doubt that he will abide by the agreements of his investiture and that we will find the ways to make these agreements work. Fortunately, Catalonia is once again on the path of reason, of defending its position based on arguments and not outbursts, and I believe this already led to great development for Catalonia in the early days of democracy and for Spain as a whole in the development of the autonomous state.

Will the special funding for Catalonia be extended to the rest of the regions?

— Without a doubt, a debate is about to begin regarding regional financing, which has been outdated for more than ten years. I hope that this debate, the one in Catalonia, will allow us to address it in a spirit of consensus, because many territories need this new approach to regional financing that meets 21st-century standards.