The Tenure Imbalance in Spain: The Need for Social Housing Policy

Abstract

Spain is usually chosen as an example of an unbalanced picture among tenures. The owner-occupied sector has been growing since the 1950s while the rental sector has become smaller. Surprisingly, other European countries are at present following the same pattern, but mostly we also see an important function for social housing. Taking into account that public housing, built by public developers, is almost negligible and that government housing policy programmes basically stimulate ownership, the 'social housing' concept lacks an adequate definition in Spanish housing policy. In this sense, the encouragement of the rental sector through public policy should provide an alternative for low-income families. Despite different cultural housing backgrounds, the emergence of a reliable rental sector in Spain appears to be the most promising strategy for solving current housing problems. The aim of the paper is twofold. On the one hand, it analyses the evolution of the rental sector through recent decades, stressing how different central government regulations have affected the tenure structure in Spain. On the other, it considers the rental sector as a potential instrument for authorities to meet the housing needs of low-income families. Housing policy still plays a crucial role in offering the opportunity for certain groups to access a suitable house. What can be called the 'European shift' to the market can cause irreparable damage to those families that have benefited from former, direct or indirect, public means.

Housing Policy as a Lever for Change? The Politics of Welfare, Assets and Tenure

“…The surge in housing prices, especially in the cities, has resulted in the exclusion of young and low-income groups from ownership (Barrios García & Rodríguez Hernández, 2008). In addition, while the rental market has been liberalized in 1985, the private rental sector has not become an affordable alternative for low-income families and young people unable to purchase, and the social rented sector is too marginal (Pareja Eastaway & San Martín, 2002). This strain on the welfare system has posed a serious challenge for Spanish housing policy.…”

Building Energy Assessment and Computer Simulation Applied to Social Housing in Spain

“…Owing to the mild winter climate of the region and the poor gas-grid development at the time of construction, heating systems are individual and usually run on electricity. Public social housing, which constitutes a small proportion of the total social housing stock [40] is well maintained and managed by the public authorities (usually municipal); there is no evidence that private social housing undergoes regular maintenance or building upgrades owing to the low rent of this type of housing.…”

‘Mortgaged lives’: the biopolitics of debt and housing financialisation

“…Boosting home ownership through mortgages during the 1980s and 1990s was coupled with an attack on rentals, as the 1985 Boyer Decree removed rent control and tenancy protection for new rental contracts (see Observatorio DESC and PAH ). By the 1990s mortgages had become the most attractive means to access housing, particularly for low‐income households (López and Rodríguez ; Palomera ; Pareja Eastaway and San Marín Varo ). As a former Catalan Secretary of Housing told us in an interview: ‘[after the 1990s] the financial establishment hurled itself onto families, so that they would ask for [mortgage] credit’ (personal communication 7 May 2014).…”