The President of the Government calls on all public administrations to apply the Housing Law because it is "good" and it "works"

Hacienda El Rosario, Seville

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the ceremony (Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo)

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, today urged public administrations to apply the Housing Law "because it works" to "provide solutions to citizens", having lowered the price of rent by an average of 3.7% in the stressed areas in Catalonia and by 6.4% in the city of Barcelona in its first year of application in this community.

This is what the president said during the ceremony to hand over the keys to an affordable public rental housing development, 52% co-financed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, in Hacienda El Rosario-Barrio de Torreblanca (Seville), after visiting the residential complex and one of the homes in the development. The event was attended by the First Vice-President and Minister for Finance, María Jesús Montero, the Minister for Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, the President of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, and the Mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz.

Pedro Sánchez thanked the construction workers, technicians, architects and the administrations involved for their work in bringing the housing delivery project to fruition, stressing that "only in this way, through agreement, can we face the tremendous challenge of access to housing", especially for young people. In this regard, he underlined that the agreement on housing is "essential" because "all the administrations have powers over housing", so "it is up to all of them to work together to ensure that access to decent housing is a right and not a privilege within the reach of a few".

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, greets one of the beneficiaries of the affordable housing development launched in Seville | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

This is why, after the Government of Spain made a record investment in housing over the last seven years, Pedro Sánchez has defended the need for "good laws", which are laws that "reflect the majority feeling of the citizens", who "demand that we act, that in the housing market the law of reason operates, not the law of the jungle, and prevent vulture funds and speculators from doing and undoing as they please". He emphasised that "citizens are asking us to protect the public housing stock, so that what is built with everyone's money is for everyone, and will be so forever".

In this way, he urged to ensure that the "mistake" of the "lost opportunities" of the past is not made again, recalling that "in the 80s Spain built more than 100,000 subsidised housing units per year" and "if those houses, paid for with people's taxes, had not gone to the free market, today they would represent 9% of the housing stock", the figure of the European average that the Government wants to reach. To this effect, he stressed that the homes inaugurated today in Seville will be affordable for at least 50 years. This "vocation for accessibility and social justice" inspired the Government's Housing Law, "a good law with an impeccable philosophy: that housing should be a right, not a luxury".

The President of the Government stressed that "the Housing Law works where it is applied", with the price of residential rents having fallen by an average of 3.7% in the areas under stress in Catalonia and by 6.4% in Barcelona, a year after its application. Moreover, he added that "contrary to what some people predicted, not only are there more flats for rent, but the contracts are more stable because the most perverse incentives have disappeared". He also once again urged all public administrations to apply the Housing Law "to provide solutions for their citizens and because the law works, as the data show", as opposed to "sitting on their hands" and giving in to the real estate bubble that led Spain to "disaster" during the financial crisis. "Housing is for living, not for speculation", he stated.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, along with the First Vice-President and Minister for Tresaury, María Jesús Montero, the Minister for Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, and the President of Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

"The Government will do whatever it takes to make the right to decent housing a reality"

"The Government of Spain is doing its part and will do whatever is necessary to make this constitutional right a reality: we will not stop until the right to decent housing and access to it is the fifth pillar of our welfare state", he added. The Executive has increased the budget for housing policies eightfold, with guarantees for purchases and rental bonds for young people, and has promoted public-private collaboration because "without companies it would not be possible", with €4 billion in ICO guarantees for the construction of new housing, an "unprecedented investment in the history of our country", taking advantage of the Next Generation funds of the Recovery Plan.

The Government's commitment to housing in Andalusia has already translated into €34 million earmarked for the 2024 call for the Youth Rental voucher, €638 million for housing rehabilitation and urban regeneration and almost €1.3 billion in the last seven years to build and rehabilitate more than 44,000 homes throughout Andalusia. In the city of Seville alone, the Government has financed the construction of more than 3,400 new affordable rental homes.

Non official translation