Sánchez proposes tripling investment in housing in exchange for communities protecting public housing stock.

Barcelona / MadridSpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez proposes that the autonomous communities triple state investment in housing and protect public housing for life. The Spanish Prime Minister has launched a proposal that shifts the focus of the summit toward housing, one of the two areas he initially proposed to address (along with universities and vocational training). All of this would be formalized in a State Housing Agreement, which is in the Spanish government's pocket (40%).

Protect public housing.

However, the proposal goes further and directly affects the status of public housing. Sánchez wants to permanently protect it, to prevent it from losing that status and ending up on the open market, which is what has happened to "virtually all" of the 2.4 million homes that public administrations have built in the country over the last 45 years, according to the Spanish government. This Tuesday, Brussels has touched the crust in Spain in this matter to be at the tail end of the Old Continent..

To prevent this from happening again, the Spanish government will condition access to the plan's state funds on the autonomous communities, which have jurisdiction in this area, as established by the Constitutional Court, maintaining "permanently" the status of protected housing once it has been financed with this money. This plan puts PP governments like that of the Community of Madrid on the ropes, where regional legislation does not contemplate this perpetuity of public housing. In fact, in the case of Madrid, the exact opposite has happened, with the sale of protected housing to various funds. rehabilitate more public housing, both for ownership and rental purposes," the letter states.

This conditionality or restriction seeks to impact an area in which the Spanish government does not have much more room for maneuver if it does not want to encroach on powers. through specific regulations or agreements. Of course, in which legal guarantees for their protection are put in black and white.

The specific distribution of funds will be made, as usual, at a housing sector conference. The criteria that have so far defined the state housing plan, such as the tension in the residential market, will remain in place. Based on these criteria, the amount corresponding to each autonomous community will be established, which will then have to define its contribution. As a result of these uncertainties, the government does not yet want to specify how many apartments can be built or renovated under the new plan.

Finally, the State Housing Agreement includes a proposal to create a public database on real purchase, sale, and rental prices in cities. The goal is to make this information available to both citizens and administrations, and not be limited solely to private portals that operate as a "monopoly" within the real estate sector.

"We must be up to the task"

After the battle with the PP over the agenda, the head of the Spanish executive has called on the regional presidents to debate with "calmness" and not to throw things at each other at the summit in Barcelona. "The Spanish people did not elect us to generate tension or bring partisan noise into the institutions. They elect us to engage in dialogue and resolve their problems. Housing is crucial, and we must rise to the occasion," he asserted. This was a dig at the PP presidents, who threatened to abandon him if the Spanish government did not agree to include the issues they wanted to discuss on the agenda. These included the withdrawal of the reforms to the justice system and the public prosecutor's office that Sánchez promoted, as well as the financing and debt forgiveness of the autonomous regions.