Almost two decades have passed since the 2007 financial crisis and the picture of poverty remains almost the same in Spain according to the indicators presented by Cáritas. This is revealed by the preview of the results of the IX Report on Exclusion and Social Development in Spain by the FOESSA Foundation, which was presented this Tuesday in Madrid and which indicates that around 9.4 million people are in a situation of exclusion19% of the population according to the survey, which is three percentage points more than at the time of the great recession of 2007.
«What we find today is that those who suffered the most from the consequences of the 2007 financial crisis and the consequences of the COVID crisis continue without recovering and that tells us about a structural nature of the reality of social exclusion that reveals to us in all these occasions of crisis and economic recovery, the inability of the economy and policies to break these cycles of poverty and social exclusion,” explained the general secretary of Cáritas, Natalia Peiró, about these data.
However, small details do change regarding that still photo, since “not all aspects of social exclusion have followed the same trend,” according to the report. Specifically, “residential exclusion has been one of those that has worsened the most,” and “problems related to housing“Today they affect, in one way or another, one in every four homes in Spain.” A proportion that “shoots to nine out of ten” if people in a situation of severe exclusion are analyzed.
Thus, the survey reveals that more than 4.6 million households suffer difficulties related to access and maintenance of housing in 2024. In addition, overexertion due to housing costs affects 14.1% of the population ( about 6.8 million people), which is 1.7 percentage points above the 2018 survey and 8.9 points more than in 2007, when excessive spending in the access or maintenance of the home affected 5.2% of people.
«The proportion of the family budget dedicated to paying for housing continues to grow and is a reality that affects both purchasing and renting, although with especially more negative consequences for people who live renting»; explained the technical secretary of the FOESSA Foundation, Raúl Flores. Thus, the 20% of households with the lowest income In 2024, they dedicated more than 70% of their income to payment of the rent for your home. “If we look back, the disbursement in 2007 was 48%, which means that the effort in paying for housing for families with fewer resources has increased by almost 50% in this period,” highlighted Flores. .
A worsening in residential exclusion indicators that has led to the emergence of strategies to adapt to the context of inflation even at the cost of a serious detriment to the quality of life. Thus, approximately 3 million people (6.3%) use “precarious forms of housing tenure, which include those provided free of charge by other people or institutions, re-rented, illegally occupied or with an eviction notice». Overcrowding is also a problem, affecting 7% of those surveyed, who are forced to share a flat, return to their parents’ house or resort to nano-apartments.
«Unlike other forms of extreme residential exclusion, such as shantytowns or homelessness, which are much more visible to society, the problems we have highlighted They are generally very little visible. Perhaps that is why Spanish society has taken so long to react to the current housing crisis that, in reality, has been brewing for a long time,” explained Raúl Flores at the press conference.
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