Why Spain's Constitutional Right to Housing Failed to Stop Evictions and Soaring Rents
Trill News Briefing
The Story
Spain's housing crisis shows a constitutional right to housing means little without enforcement, a warning for European nations weighing similar protections.
Article 47 of the Spanish Constitution promises decent and adequate housing, yet social housing makes up only 1.5 to 3.3 percent of the stock, depending on the region.
Andrei Quintiá Pastrana of the University of Santiago de Compostela traces the gap to a Franco era model built on subsidized mortgages and the privatization of publicly funded homes.
The 2008 crash and its wave of evictions exposed that gap, and the 2023 Housing Act let regions cap rents in stressed areas, but a housing decree the government approved in March was later rejected by Congress.
Housing is largely run by Spain's 17 regions, so market oriented Madrid and heavily regulated Catalonia now operate distinct models.
Protests erupted after Maricarmen Abascal, 87, was evicted from the Madrid home she had lived in for 71 years when an investment fund raised her rent 230 percent, though she later won a new eight year tenancy.
Ireland, which is debating a constitutional right to housing, faces the same lesson that rights need social housing, public investment and tenant protections behind them.
Article 47 of the Spanish Constitution promises decent and adequate housing, yet social housing makes up only 1.5 to 3.3 percent of the stock, depending on the region.
Andrei Quintiá Pastrana of the University of Santiago de Compostela traces the gap to a Franco era model built on subsidized mortgages and the privatization of publicly funded homes.
The 2008 crash and its wave of evictions exposed that gap, and the 2023 Housing Act let regions cap rents in stressed areas, but a housing decree the government approved in March was later rejected by Congress.
Housing is largely run by Spain's 17 regions, so market oriented Madrid and heavily regulated Catalonia now operate distinct models.
Protests erupted after Maricarmen Abascal, 87, was evicted from the Madrid home she had lived in for 71 years when an investment fund raised her rent 230 percent, though she later won a new eight year tenancy.
Ireland, which is debating a constitutional right to housing, faces the same lesson that rights need social housing, public investment and tenant protections behind them.
Why It Matters
Housing may now end Pedro Sánchez's government. After Parliament rejected his minority government's housing relief measures, Sánchez called a snap election, Al Jazeera reports, days after a protest the government said drew more than 70,000 people in Madrid. Idealista data show average rents almost doubled over a decade while asking prices rose about 90 percent. Polls favor a People's Party government relying on Vox, which would bring the far right into national government for the first time since Franco's death. The verdict comes November 29, with housing the defining issue.
Go Deeper
Read the original reporting at The Conversation.
Read Full Story at The Conversation →