Without good questions there are no good answers

In Catalonia, the population grows by 1% each year. In a population of 8 million people, this means 80,000 more people annually. According to Idescat, it's 76,000. If there are 3 people per household, this is equivalent to about 26,000 new homes each year (80,000/3 = 26,000). When land is ceded by municipalities, the construction of a home of about 80 or 100 m² has a cost of €150,000. The total annual investment to do this is, therefore, 3.9 billion euros per year (26,000x150,000 = 3.9 billion €/year). We must start by creating a territorial plan for Catalonia that identifies available land and facilitates municipalities making it available to the Generalitat for construction. However, is it viable to create a public-private company that builds these homes and rents them directly to individuals? If the investment amortization period is set at thirty years, the public debt it will entail will be around 117,000 million euros (3.900x30 = 117.000 M€). In the case of a 50% public and private investment, it would amount to 58,500 million euros.The average gross income of a Catalan family with two workers is €36,000/year (€1,500 x 12 months x 2 people = €36,000). The net income, after deducting income tax, is €25,200 (€36,000x0.7 = €25,200/year). The cost of a rental property should not exceed 30% of net income to live with some margin; that is, the rental cost should be less than €7,560/year (€25,200x0.3 = €7,560/year).The income generated by this rental —the  7,560 €— should remunerate three concepts. Calculated per dwelling and year, they are:—The return of the invested public capital (€75,000, equivalent to 50% of the €150,000 construction cost, over thirty years). €75,000/30 = €2,500/year.—The remuneration of the private investor (the remaining €75,000, starting from an investment of 5% profitability). 75,000x0.05= €3,750/year.—The payment of the debt interest (assuming an interest rate of 3% per year and calculated with a margin to cover interest variation and management cost). 75,000x0.03 ≈ 2,500 €/year.Therefore, the families'  7,560 € would not be enough to remunerate the sum of the three concepts, which amounts to  8,750 €.This situation would only be possible if families' income tax were halved during the rental period; that is, (36,000-25,200)/2 = €5,440/year. Thus, available family income would go from €25,200 to €30,560 (€36,000-€5,440 = €30,560). The percentage of net income after taxes dedicated to housing would be 8,750/30,560 = 29%, and it would meet the objective set by independent organizations.A rental housing system financed by public and private capital can be a solution, which, moreover, has the advantage of offering security and profitability to private investment. According to the Draghi report, the European Union has more private savings than the United States, but no mechanisms for investment. This would be one. However, the following conditions would need to be met:—The agreement must be controlled and guaranteed by public administrations, private investors, and tenants.—The project must be maintained as a whole; not individually, housing by housing. It gives security to the investor and the tenant.—Getting municipalities to cede square meters of municipal land is not possible unless it is with the patronage of the State.This is a model that promotes housing for the population with medium-low incomes at a moderate cost. It has been used in Holland and Austria. It is a safe, but not a quick, solution.

Let's change the scene: let's move on to the country's railway challenge. The starting point is to ask ourselves why Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat runs well, and on the other hand, Rodalies, managed by Renfe and Adif, badly, if they provide the same service and both are public.In Spain there are three corporate unions that function solely guided by the defense of the interests of their associates. The markets in which they operate are critical. If their service stops, the national economy suffers. They are the port stevedores, air traffic controllers, and train drivers. Each group has around 7,000 workers. If the ports in Spain stop —a country in which imports and exports are maritime by 90%—, or if we are left without trains or planes, the country paralyzes. Hence their strength.The train drivers' union has made the agreement between the State and the Generalitat for the transfer of Rodalies conditional. It is a bad agreement. In Catalonia there are two railway systems: the one that communicates Catalonia with the rest of Spain and with France, of European gauge, and that of Rodalies and Regionals, of Catalan geographical scope and Iberian gauge. Goods circulate partly on the Iberian gauge and partly on the European gauge. The solution is to segregate the two networks: transfer the infrastructures and the Iberian gauge trains to the Generalitat and leave the European gauge —as is the case with Renfe and Adif— to the central government. Goods must be their responsibility: their scope is national and not Catalan.For reasons of operational efficiency, the authority for infrastructure and regional and commuter trains should be single, not two as now —Adif and Renfe—. A dual authority makes sense for long distance and freight. If the infrastructure belongs to the State, private operators can run on the network in competition with public ones. It is useful for it to be like this for long distance, but not in the case of commuter and regional services. Continuous incidents on this network recommend a single authority to avoid conflicts of competence.The Rodalies and Regionals network has an investment backlog of 15,000 million euros accumulated over forty years of difference between budget and execution. If the improvement of line R1 —on the coast— and the construction of workshops and parking lots for trains, which we do not have now, are added, the investment needed is around 20,000 million euros.

Rodalies and Regionals are a deficit service. If they are transferred to the Generalitat, there must be, beyond a transfer of the necessary funds to compensate for the lack of investment, an annual fee from the central government to the Generalitat.