The government fails to push through its two housing decrees. Congress has rejected them, leaving measures on evictions, rentals, and affordable housing in limbo.
The Congress of Deputies has rejected the two housing decrees approved this week by the government. The vote, as reported by tribunazamora.com, nullifies the measures that included protection against evictions, rental stability, affordable housing supply, and various tax incentives.
The texts did not pass the parliamentary process. Among the reasons for the rejection, the information highlights that the regulations did not incorporate measures aimed at private landlords, a group that mostly rents out a second home to supplement income, not to speculate.
The price of housing continues to rise sharply. At the same time, households are under increasing pressure from expenses such as electricity, food, and transport, which come out of the same salary. For many families, housing competes directly with the grocery bill and the electricity bill.
Housing policy cannot be considered apart from land use planning. Ceuta, Melilla, and the Canary Islands are examples that a home does not appear just by declaring it affordable in the Official Bulletin: land, legal security, infrastructure, services, and the ability to manage land are needed. The state lacks a common strategy that coordinates regional and municipal competencies.
Land, housing, transport, water, energy, and infrastructure are part of the same equation. A housing policy that ignores the price of energy and food is incomplete from the outset. Continuity is key: a family does not separate rent or mortgage from the electricity bill and the grocery basket.
The debate on evictions, while necessary, cannot stop there. Eviction is the last link in a chain where the price of housing, lack of supply, insufficient wages, a separation, an illness, unemployment, or a pension that does not stretch have intervened beforehand.
"Eviction is the symptom, the mental void is the disease"
The underlying solution lies in employment and wages. People do not want their rent to be given to them for free; they want to be able to pay it. Assistance is necessary in situations of vulnerability, but a sustainable housing policy cannot depend eternally on subsidies. It needs contracts, productivity, saving capacity, and for work to once again be the normal way to build an independent life.
While Congress rejects the decrees, the uncertainty of the legislative term looms. Even if there were early elections, housing would still be there the next day. With another government, another parliament, or the same majority, there would still be a lack of housing where it is most needed, and it would still be necessary to decide how much is built, where, for whom, and with what services.
Spain needs a housing policy that lasts longer than a decree and understands that home begins long before opening the door to a dwelling.
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