This Saturday Barcelona hosts a demonstration demanding a reduction in rental prices and that could be historic. And Catalonia has been a pioneer in the fight for decent housing, hand in hand with social organizations such as the Platform for People Affected by Mortgage or the Sindicat de Llogateres. He has also led the creation of legislation, such as the recent limitation on rental prices, which has allowed reduce it by 5% in one quarter.
However, this measure has had the opposition from the real estate sector and the Constitutional Court (TC). Six laws and a dozen decrees have been approved in the last 15 years, since Law 18/2007.
The Constitutional Court has been annulling part of the Catalan regulations, especially after appeals from Vox and, above all, the PP. Even so, The legal and regulatory ordeal has finally allowed a price limit to be applied in Cataloniabased on state regulations, Law 12/2023. The Parliament had already approved a law in 2020 with the same objective, but the courts suspended it. Before, in 2017, the reference price index was promoted to begin to influence the market.
The Generalitat also tried to resolve in April of this year – without success – he legal loophole left by seasonal rentalwhich will now be regulated by the State through a decree. Furthermore, at the end of 2023, tried to regulate tourist housing with a decree that was substantially modified in the Parliament regarding the one that the then ERC executive had prepared.
Delia Cerarespokesperson for the PAH in Barcelona, maintains that The laws in Catalonia have advanced, but not enough. “We have always put alternatives on the table to solve the issue of housing in Catalonia and at the state level,” he claims in statements to Public. Next, we review the main regulations that make up housing legislation and the journey that the movement has had.
An ILP that becomes law
Law 24/2015 of Catalonia prohibited cutting supplies in the event of non-payment and forced large tenants to offer a social rent to the tenant if they were in a vulnerable situation. But was annulled by the TC. The PAH spokesperson in Barcelona claims that this law “helped a lot.” “It was a shield against evictions. “We were able to stop thousands of evictions and sign social rentals from large landlords for vulnerable families.”remember. Cerare regrets having lost a regulation “that was on the side of citizens.”
At the end of 2019, the Government approved Decree Law 17/2019 of urgent measures to improve access to housing, and the PP appealed the text again to the TC. The high court ruled that there were several unconstitutional aspects, although maintained its validity for cases in which one of those affected was at risk of residential exclusionas long as the owner was a great holder.
Setback of the TC in the first law that limited rents
Also noteworthy is Law 11/2020, approved by the Parliament, which established the rent containment in areas of high residential demandaccording to the reference price index. In short, it limited rental prices. It went ahead despite a ruling from the Consell de Guaranties Statutàries that warned about points contrary to the Statute and the Constitution. In March 2022, the TC confirmed its unconstitutionality: declared articles related to contracts null and void in a stressed market where prices could not exceed reference prices, among others.
The last ruling of the TC was a few weeks ago on Law 1/2022, which annulled the obligation of large tenants to offer social rent to tenants in vulnerable situations. The PAH has asked the Spanish government regulate social rent or transfer powers to communities after the ruling that annuls part of the Catalan housing law. “It was not enough, but it helped solve part of the problem,” Cerare insists to Public. He also demands the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illato “stop making big announcements” and “get your act together.”
In recent months, the intention to consolidate rent caps in the face of rising prices came with the approval of Law 12/2023 by Congress, which empowers communities to declare stressed market areas where it can be applied. Catalonia is the only one that has requested it, affecting 271 municipalities that concentrate the vast majority of the population.
In the second quarter, the first complete by applying income containment, Rental prices fell by 5%, although supply fell by 17%according to data from Incasòl.
The social movement: essential but helpless
The spokesperson highlights that in 2023, before the state law came out, it will also A popular initiative was presented to allocate the properties of large holders to social housing. “It was not possible either because the right opposed it,” he recalls. “There is no will on the part of the Catalan Government or the Government of Spain to contemplate any law that is on the side of the people, of the citizens.. Today we are helpless,” laments the PAH spokesperson in Barcelona. She points out that “very little” remains of the legislation they have been promoting. In addition, the “emergency tables are super collapsed, There are no pensions for evictions or they are very tight.
In this sense, it stands out that In Barcelona alone there are 700 families on the waiting list for emergency tablesand that the 30% measure for social housing “is not being met.” “The housing problem is current, “The solutions should be given today.”he claims, asking to give up empty apartments from banks or investment funds, beyond announcements such as that of President Salvador Illa to build 50,000 public homes by 2030. “There will already be 1,000 more families on the streets,” regrets.
“If there is no emergency table, pensions, hostels… a solution to these problems is immediately needed. There are still six years of this emptiness, of this total helplessness. Nowadays there is no law that protects families,” insists the spokesperson. At the same time, she recalls that At the end of this year the anti-eviction moratorium ends which was implemented due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has been renewed every six months. “What will happen if it is not renewed? All suspended or postponed evictions will be requested to be executed, and “There will be an avalanche of evictions”Cerare adds.
At the legislative level, the main demand of the housing movement right now is to regulate seasonal rentals, with the aim of ensuring that they have the same regulations and, therefore, the same price limits that apply to habitual residence. After the Parliament rejected the decree approved by the President’s Government Pere Aragones when it was already in office, now it is the state executive who has committed to addressing the regulations.
What is evident is that this period of legislation and social mobilization has allowed the issue of housing to be put on the table “as a priority problem at the state level,” according to Cerare. “It has been thanks to the fact that the voice of different social movements has been heard,” highlights the PAH spokesperson.
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