“The announced measures are not even a band-aid. Every year there are more housing shortages and prices (for rent or sale) keep rising. We need land, cranes...”
In Spain, there are almost 27 million homes for nearly 19 million households (five with a single resident), of which twenty million are the usual residence of almost fifty million residents, a figure that will likely be reached by the end of 2026. Apparently, these are coherent figures that on average represent one home for every two people. An insufficient vision that obscures a distressing reality for a significant number of families directly (migrants, the poor, and young people with aspirations for independence). It is evident that there is a serious problem with residential housing in Spain that admits no excuse or doubt. There is a shortage of homes, between half a million and a million according to serious studies. And there is a shortage because since the last recession, no residential homes have been built, nor have existing facilities been adapted for residential use properly or at all. Furthermore, there is no efficient rental market, which also requires new residential buildings. There is a lack of so-called social housing, for first-time young occupants, for new families, for migrants, and even for the elderly with support needs.
This is a problem that cannot be solved with the simple play of supply and demand and requires urgent, intelligent, and well-oriented public (political) action. It is not an unprecedented problem; there was one in the middle of the last century that was addressed with greater difficulties than the current ones in financial and technological terms. The lack of housing entails negative externalities that go against competitiveness, social mobility, progress, and the happiness of society. Moreover, the exorbitant price of all types of housing (for rent or ownership) represents a very damaging drain on savings, consumption, and investment. Over the last decade (with governments of various political stripes), the problem has grown to become urgent and overwhelming. There is no known efficient response to the problem. The measures repeatedly announced by governments (in their various territorial and competency areas) have not even reached the level of a band-aid. The facts are compelling: every year there are more housing shortages and the prices for buying and renting keep rising.
Addressing the problem requires segmenting critical sectors and tackling solutions for each of them. For example, that of students away from their family homes; or that of first residences for young people seeking independence. Fiscal policies can be applied to stimulate the most needy sectors with immediate effects. Pressure can be alleviated by encouraging new constructions, a task that falls to local councils, which are stingy with land and income. And it can be done urgently and with immediate implementation to discourage inflationary pressure and negative expectations. Increasing the supply of residences by almost a million is possible; it can be done with clear and efficient policies that do not remain as promises, words, and hollow declarations. This should entail land, cranes, and new construction or renovation and adaptation, for example, of unoccupied monasteries and convents.♦
