<html>
<body>
<h1><b>Spain’s snap election could kill its housing revolution before it
even gets
started</b></h1><font size=5><b>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/05/spain-snap-election-housing-revolution-law-rightwing" eudora="autourl">
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/05/spain-snap-election-housing-revolution-law-rightwing</a>
<br>
</b></font>
<img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2023/06/04/Eduardo_Gonzalez_de_Molina.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=e6dc023fb2b260c3e6b9e23de09f9cd6" alt="Eduardo González de Molina">
</b>The country’s new housing law could change so much – but may be
reversed if rightwing parties gain more influence<br><br>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/eduardo-gonzalez-de-molina">
Eduardo González de Molina</a> Mon 5 Jun 2023 10.00 BSTLast
modified on Mon 5 Jun 2023 21.33 BST<br><br>
A housing revolution is taking place in Spain. On 26 May, a monumental
new housing law came into force. It was the culmination of years of work
and sought to enshrine housing as a human right. But now that vision is
in danger. Two days after the law passed, rightwing parties won seats in
local and regional elections. Last week Spain’s prime minister, Pedro
Sánchez,<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/29/spain-pm-calls-snap-election-after-opposition-and-far-right-wins-in-local-polls-pedro-sanchez">
called a snap election.</a> On 23 July, when Spain goes to the polls,
the fate of this law will hang in the balance.<br><br>
The origins of the law go back decades. In 1956, José Luis de Arrese, who
would become Franco’s first housing minister, said that
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/spain">Spain</a> had to change
from “a country of working-class tenants to a country of homeowners”.
Governments encouraged property ownership at the expense of renting. It
created a new class of social housing – “publicly protected housing”.
Unlike your average council home, a publicly protected home is subsidised
by the government and offered for sale at an affordable price. Once 30
years have elapsed, it can be sold on the free market.<br><br>
This model has made Spain one of the largest property-owning countries in
the west, with almost
<a href="https://fundacionalternativas.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/df921b0eb942d0ce4c114e5463934e1a.pdf">
80% of housing owner-occupied</a>. While Spain built 6.5m publicly
protected homes, only 400,000 now remain.<br><br>
The cracks in this model
<a href="https://socialhousingfestival.eu/to-improve-affordability-spain-needs-more-rental-housing/">
appeared in 2008</a>. As the real estate crisis swept across the world, a
wave of evictions unfolded in Spain. Many people who had lost their homes
started to rent. Demand leaped up in the country’s small and
under-regulated private letting sector. Rents
<a href="https://www.tellerreport.com/business/2023-05-31-the-price-of-rents-has-grown-17-times-more-than-wages-in-spain.HkV0RAfEUn.html">
increased</a> by 51.4%, while wages rose only 3.4% over the decade that
followed. As a result, Spain now has the
<a href="https://elobservatoriosocial.fundacionlacaixa.org/-/sistema-de-vivienda-y-estado-del-bienestar-el-caso-espanol-en-el-marco-europeo">
highest housing cost overburden rate</a> in Europe, the number of people
for whom total housing costs represent more than 40% of income. The
evictions crisis planted the seed for Spain’s housing movement, led by
anti-eviction campaigners and tenants’ unions.<br><br>
It was in Barcelona that the housing revolution was born. Ada Colau, a
tenants organiser, was elected mayor in 2015. Since then,
<a href="https://medium.com/iipp-blog/barcelonas-housing-mission-from-a-market-fixing-to-a-market-shaping-approach-b52f9ab6ae">
the city has changed the paradigm of its housing policy</a>. Instead of
standing back and letting the market take the lead, the state has
intervened to shape the housing market so everyone has access to
adequate, sustainable and affordable housing. In Barcelona, the stock of
council housing has
<a href="https://bcnroc.ajuntament.barcelona.cat/jspui/handle/11703/130616">
doubled</a> and the vast majority of evictions have ceased.<br><br>
Meanwhile, the city government has tried to stop the advance of
gentrification by acquiring empty private buildings and regulating Airbnb
apartments. It even passed a
<a href="https://www.nyc.gov/assets/hpd/downloads/pdfs/about/rethinking-rent-control-in-spain.pdf">
rent control law that reduced rents by 6% without reducing the housing
supply</a>. But it was
<a href="https://www.catalannews.com/politics/item/spain-s-constitutional-court-annuls-vast-majority-of-catalan-rent-cap-law">
declared</a> by the courts to be unconstitutional on grounds of
jurisdiction. It was partially from this legal defeat that the Spanish
housing law emerged.<br>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/26/shredding-green-belt-recipe-for-disaster-planning-policy-housing">
Shredding the green belt is a recipe for disaster. We need a saner
planning policy<br>
Simon Jenkins<br>
</a>
<img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Simon-Jenkins,-L.png?width=75&quality=85&dpr=1&s=none" alt="Simon Jenkins">
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/26/shredding-green-belt-recipe-for-disaster-planning-policy-housing">
<br>
</a>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/26/shredding-green-belt-recipe-for-disaster-planning-policy-housing">
Read more<br>
</a><br>
If enacted, the new law would represent a paradigm shift. It would
prevent the privatisation of council housing, and set a target of
creating 20% more social housing over the next 20 years. It would
increase protections for vulnerable tenants, and tax landlords who hold
on to empty homes. It includes new tax incentives for landlords who
reduce prices or offer long-term lets. Most significantly, it would
introduce provisions for national rent control, which
<a href="https://www.expansion.com/catalunya/2023/04/16/643c28eee5fdea683c8b463e.html">
Barcelona has pledged to adopt</a>. The law isn’t perfect: it includes
loopholes for people who own tourist or seasonal housing, and regional
governments can opt out of some provisions.<br><br>
Even so, it is a radical shift that would
<a href="https://councilonurbaninitiatives.com/resources/right-to-housing-a-mission-oriented-and-human-rights-based-approach">
guarantee the right to housing</a>, developing the housing system as a
pillar of the welfare state. But a question mark hangs over its fate. As
the supporters of rightwing parties congregated in public squares after
the 28 May elections, the future of Barcelona’s government looked
increasingly uncertain. If a rightwing party takes control of the
municipality, its housing achievements could be reversed. Revolution
aborted? We’ll only know once the election results are in.<br><br>
<ul>
<li>Eduardo González de Molina is a policy adviser at
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/barcelona">Barcelona</a> city
council and an affiliate academic at the UCL Institute for Innovation and
Public Purpose
</ul><br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
</body>
<br>
<body>
<font size=4><b>Weekly politics show page
<a href="http://www.thisweek.org.uk/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.thisweek.org.uk</a> <br>
Radio stream 11am/pm and live at 5pm UK Fridays
<a href="http://www.talkradio.org.uk/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.talkradio.org.uk</a> <br>
Also on: NOT The BCfm Politics Show App
<a href="https://apkpure.com/not-the-bcfm-politics-show/com.sweetsmile.bottom_navigation_flutter" eudora="autourl">
https://apkpure.com/not-the-bcfm-politics-show/com.sweetsmile.bottom_navigation_flutter</a>
<br><br>
</b></font>NB please reply with any unsubscribe request in the email
body, leaving the subject line intact, if you do not wish to recieve
further emails - thanks<br>
<font size=4><b>And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took
bread, and blessed <i>it</i>, and brake, and gave to them.
<a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/24-31.htm">31</a> And their eyes were
opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
<a href="http://biblehub.com/kjv/luke/24.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://biblehub.com/kjv/luke/24.htm</a> <br>
'Capitalism is institutionalised bribery' TG<br>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/PublicEnquiry/videos" eudora="autourl">
https://www.youtube.com/user/PublicEnquiry/videos<br>
</a></b></font>"And I think, in the end, that is the best definition
of journalism I have heard; to challenge authority - all authority -
especially so when governments and politicians take us to war, when they
have decided that they will kill and others will die. "<br>
--Robert Fisk <br>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMn9GM4atN3t7AHJBbHMR0Q/videos" eudora="autourl">
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMn9GM4atN3t7AHJBbHMR0Q/videos<br>
</a><font size=4><b>
<a href="http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/2149" eudora="autourl">
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/2149<br>
</a><a href="http://www.thisweek.org.uk/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.thisweek.org.uk<br>
</a><a href="http://www.911forum.org.uk/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.911forum.org.uk<br>
</a><a href="http://www.tlio.org.uk/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.tlio.org.uk<br>
</a>Download, donation only, Tony's three watermarked books
<a href="http://www.bilderberg.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.bilderberg.org</a> - My books
<a href="https://payhip.com/TonyGosling" eudora="autourl">
https://payhip.com/TonyGosling<br>
</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvPbHiqhLtpNWA_cg_1NULw" eudora="autourl">
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvPbHiqhLtpNWA_cg_1NULw<br>
</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMn9GM4atN3t7AHJBbHMR0Q" eudora="autourl">
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMn9GM4atN3t7AHJBbHMR0Q<br>
</a><a href="https://www.twitter.com/TonyGosling" eudora="autourl">
https://www.twitter.com/TonyGosling<br>
</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/tony.gosling.16" eudora="autourl">
https://www.facebook.com/tony.gosling.16<br>
</a>You can donate to support Tony's work here
<a href="http://www.bilderberg.org/bcfm.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.bilderberg.org/bcfm.htm<br>
</a>Or buy Tony's three ebooks for £10-£15 here
<a href="https://payhip.com/TonyGosling" eudora="autourl">
https://payhip.com/TonyGosling</a> or paperback here
<a href="https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254963338161" eudora="autourl">
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254963338161<br>
</a></b>TG mobile +44 7786 952037</font> <br><br>
</body>
</html>