It is well known that Spain is one of the states in the European Union (EU) where young people take the longest to leave their parents' home to form their own household. It is also clear that the housing crisis we are currently suffering has a direct relationship with this fact. And this was admitted by the experts who participated yesterday in the round table Access to housing and emancipation, the third in the cycle of debate and cinema on housing promoted by the Association of Technical Architecture (Cateb) at the Texas Cinemas, and which is moderated by journalists from ARA, in this case the journalist specializing in housing issues Laura Casserres.

In Catalonia, "working is not enough" for 28.3% of employed people who live in rented housing, and who see how, after paying the monthly rent, they fall below the poverty line. Faced with the serious housing crisis, Oxfam Intermón notes that the costs of having a place to live exacerbate working poverty, in a study published this Tuesday.

The second episode of the podcast Tocar sostre revolves around how we should understand housing: is it a basic necessity, an investment asset, or a social right? Participants include urban anthropologist Manuel Delgado, economist Josep Oliver, and economist and president of the Hàbitat3 Foundation, Carme Trilla. Moderated by journalist Carla Turró.

The first episode of the podcast Tocar sostre deals with the issue of housing rentals. Participants include businesswoman Joana Amat, notary and member of the Board of Directors of the Cercle d'Economia Camino Quiroga and writer Llucia Ramis. Moderated by journalist Antoni Bassas.

Having a powerful residential stock at an affordable price requires not only financial resources, which it does, but also consistency and continuity in policies, according to the different models and strategies regarding housing in the European Union (EU). Paris, the city of light, has 17 times more social housing per 1,000 inhabitants than Barcelona, according to data on this type of property in both cities. Maintaining this proportion, since the municipality of the French capital has around 22% more inhabitants than the Catalan capital, in the former there are 127 social apartments per 1,000 inhabitants compared to 7.6 in Barcelona, although in recent years the drive for this type of housing has increased.

The housing decrees that were overturned on Friday in Congress were an emergency response to the social outcry caused by cases such as that of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman who was evicted in Madrid, or that of Olga, the resident of L'Hospitalet who committed suicide after losing her home, but they did not represent a structural solution to the problem. This is known even by the promoters of the decrees and the parties that voted in favor of them. Therefore, the first thing to do is to distinguish between the response to the social emergency posed by evictions and the more fundamental and multifactorial issue of access to decent housing under proper conditions.

Many small landlords, who make up the largest proportion of the housing market, are skeptical about the decree approved by the Spanish government, which faces a vote in Congress this Friday. Of the two housing decrees, the one including measures for the protection of vulnerable people was, in principle, the one that seemed most likely to move forward, especially after the 'yes' announced by Podemos and the PNV. But the rejection by Junts —which is asking the Spanish government to withdraw it or they will vote against it— has disrupted the possibility of it passing. The second one, which incorporates automatic lease extensions and compensation for tenants, had no chance, because the PNV will also vote against it.

A bucket of cold water for the Spanish government, the left-wing parties, and the housing rights movements that this Thursday night continue to be camped out in Puerta del Sol and Plaça Catalunya. Junts demands that Pedro Sánchez's executive withdraw the anti-eviction decree or they will vote against it, but the Moncloa has shut the door on it abruptly: "The progressive coalition government will not withdraw either of the two housing decrees," government sources stated this Thursday night, after learning of the decision by the Junts members. Junts will also vote against the decree with the automatic renewal of contracts.

The housing crisis continues to worsen. While evictions take on a name of their own, the public seems to say enough is enough and politicians search for solutions against the clock, the data only confirms the severity of the problem: housing prices are drifting further and further away from wages and families' ability to save.

The Spanish government approved two different royal decrees on Tuesday. One with a very broad battery of measures ranging from limiting the speculative purchase of properties to temporarily suspending some evictions, and another with a single measure: the automatic renewal of rental contracts, the main demand of the Tenants' Union, which has been camping at the Puerta del Sol since the weekend—an image that evoked the 15-M movement—, and of all the left-wing parties. At the same time, it is the decree that hangs by the thinnest thread (it will hardly prosper) due to the misgivings of Junts and the PNV regarding the approach. However, what is the fine print?

I read that Ada Colau, former mayor of Barcelona, has had to leave her apartment because she cannot make ends meet. She is separated and has two children.

Urbagestión, the investment fund that owns Maricarmen Abascal's apartment, reached an agreement this Monday with the resident's lawyers so that she can return home. The 87-year-old woman was evicted last week from the apartment where she lived in Madrid's Retiro neighborhood, which has triggered mobilizations throughout the State, an encampment at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, and a race-against-the-clock negotiation between the Spanish government and its investiture partners for an emergency housing decree. Now Maricarmen will have to ratify the agreement, her representatives explained, stating that she will have to pay around 30% of her pension, approximately 500 euros (similar to the amount she was paying until now), in a contract renewed for eight years.

Maybe it is not the 15-M, but many things remind us of it. "The people united will never be defeated". "Long live the struggle of the working class", sing the thousands of people who this Monday night remain in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, many of whom will spend their third night there defying the rain and the cold that has suddenly arrived in the Spanish capital. They are all clear that until the so-called Maricarmen decree with the at least four requests made by the Tenants' Union goes ahead, they will not move.

Most people have opened a real estate portal and performed a search that fits their needs, whether to find a place to live—with a certain sense of desperation, in more than one case—or to conduct a homemade market study. However, what are the requirements for a future home and to what extent do they end up conditioning the final decision?

Barcelona has gone from 110 applicants per rental dwelling to 437. This data was provided this week by KPMG at the APIE courses, and it summarizes the market situation better than any other. Before the housing law, there was already tension. Now there is a bottleneck. Four times more demand for each available apartment.In the same intervention, another relevant figure was cited: since the approval of the law, approximately 120,000 homes would have disappeared from the rental market in Spain, of which about 60,000 would correspond to Catalonia. These are sectoral estimates, they should be treated as such, but they fit with what many citizens perceive when looking for an apartment: fewer ads, more filters, more competition, and a greater sense of impossibility.The regulation of rent has achieved something that its defenders can present as a success: prices have risen less in Catalonia than in Madrid. According to data cited by Fedea, between the first quarter of 2024 and the fourth quarter of 2025, rent accumulated an increase of 5.7% in Barcelona and Catalonia, compared to 8.5% in Madrid. The difference exists. It is important to acknowledge it. The regulation has moderated part of the increase.The question is: was it worth it to contain a three-point increase compared to Madrid if, in return, there are half the apartments and the number of applicants per apartment quadruples?Access to housing is measured by the rental price, of course, but also by accessibility. A smaller increase in rent is of little use to someone who cannot even visit the apartment. A more protected contract greatly benefits someone who is already inside an apartment, but is of little use to someone trying to get in.It is true that part of the fall in visible supply can be explained by lower turnover and more contract renewals. This was precisely one of the effects sought by the regulations: to give stability to the existing tenant. Surely those who already lived for rent have been a little more protected, but this protection has a downside: the new applicant finds a smaller, more selective and harsher market.Many economists warned about this from the beginning. The price is a symptom of a problem, not its root cause. When the price rises too much, it indicates scarcity, lack of supply, excess demand, or a combination of all of them. Managing the price without resolving the scarcity can alleviate the fever, but it does not cure the infection.Housing policy needs to increase supply, provide legal certainty and mobilize land. Capping prices collapses supply. It was textbook. The problem persists.

Young people and migrants are particularly suffering from the housing crisis in Catalonia, as in many other European regions. These two groups are an important part of the low-income population, who are the ones who suffer the most from this problem.

The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce presented its plan this Wednesday to combat the housing crisis. The business entity announced a set of 20 "structural" measures to face the challenge that it represents for the country. According to the Chamber, the objectives of the initiative are to "sustainably increase the housing supply, reinforce legal certainty, and guarantee access to decent housing for all citizens". Estimates collected by the entity indicate that in the next five years, more than 180,000 new housing needs will have to be met.

The Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Observatory calculates the real impact of the rent cap. Prices in the Catalan capital would have risen by between 160 and 270 euros more per month if this measure had not been implemented, according to a report prepared by this entity. Without regulation, the document states, rents would have continued to rise to 1,318.6 euros per month, following the trend of the last decade, or could even have risen further, to 1,492.2 euros, if the accelerated growth rate of the market in recent years had been maintained.

Mortgage lending continues to circulate – in fact, some financial institutions have warned that it is doing so unsustainably – while housing prices rise month after month. In this context, some are already noticing a difficulty in buying: households where the main residence is rented have a "limited financial capacity" to acquire a first property through a mortgage, according to the Bank of Spain. Be that as it may, the scenario shows no signs of concern in the opinion of the supervisory body, which for some months has been analyzing whether to activate any limitations on the lending criteria for high-risk mortgages that are being granted.

The Spanish government was forced to divide aid for the war in the Middle East into two parts. The first, with tax rebates on fuel, among other aspects, had already been validated by Congress. But the opposition from Junts has derailed the second decree, the one on housing, which among other measures proposed extending rental contracts that were nearing their end by two years and a cap of 2% on rent increases.