Urban public housing standards
Introduction
Although the powers regarding housing belong to the autonomous communities and city councils, in the VIII legislature (2004-2008) the Ministry of Housing "Ministry of Housing (Spain)"), which had been eliminated in 1977, was reestablished. In 2010 it was eliminated again, to return in 2023 under the name "Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda".
In its 2008-2010 stage, this ministry focused its actions on trying to get unoccupied homes to be rented without using tax measures. For this purpose, it created the Public Rental Company, which was an intermediary between owners and tenants and which was eliminated in 2012 due to its ineffectiveness (less than 5,000 rentals) and its high losses (debt of 37 million euros) when it was abolished.[1]
The rest of the actions in housing are from each autonomous community and normally focus on raffled off protected housing.
This ministry also promoted actions against urban corruption, such as the Land Law (which, contrary to the popular idea about it, did not seek to solve the problem of access to housing, but rather that of urban corruption). To do this, it protected the small landowner at the cost of making construction difficult. For this reason, its detractors considered that it slowed down the construction of housing with a corresponding increase in price.
On July 23, 2008, the Ministry of Housing announced that over the next four years it would acquire private land, with an initial investment of 300 million euros, destined for the creation of protected housing. The purchase would be made through the Public Land Business Entity (Sepes).
Administrative complexity
The Minister of Development of Spain, José Blanco López, announced on November 30, 2010 measures to improve the functioning of the real estate market and expand the possibilities of access to housing for citizens, firmly defending rehabilitation as a driver of the recovery of the sector.[2]
At this stage of the Ministry, three axes of action were established: economic, social and urban sustainability. José Blanco assured that the first challenges that had to be faced were “reactivate employment in the construction sector and face the digestion of homes and land that are still in stock in the real estate market”.
To promote rehabilitation, Blanco announced that financing would be facilitated with attractive interest rates and measures would be promoted to streamline administrative procedures.