Spain has taken an important step towards the final approval of a Law for the Right to Housing that, among other issues, addresses the problem of homelessness and the lack of affordable housing in Spain. From the Provivienda Association and HOGAR SÍ, we highlight the advances and pending challenges in this matter, and we welcome the inclusion of some of the amendments presented by both entities.
First, both organizations emphasize the importance of this law in identifying and preventing homelessness. The new law recognizes this need and proposes a definition of homelessness and chronic homelessness. However, we believe that we should be more ambitious in tackling this problem: the goal should be the eradication of homelessness in the medium term, as subscribed by Spain in the Lisbon Declaration on the European Platform to combat homelessness.
We also value the strengthening of the Third Sector in the provision of social and affordable housing, as we are actors that can help to expand the available housing stock. In general, although the Law does not explicitly exclude non-profit organizations from the definition of large housing holders, which would have allowed, for example, to enhance their activity and increase the stock of social housing for the homeless or other particularly vulnerable groups, both organizations consider necessary the definitions for the implementation of housing policies included in the text: subsidized housing, social housing, vacant housing, housing stock and housing of the Third Sector or stressed residential market.
Also very positive is the protection against evictions, which includes what was raised in our amendments presented for the modification of the Civil Proceedings Law, which proposes the provision of alternative housing by the competent administrations.
Regarding rental regulation, both entities agree on the importance of addressing two pending challenges. The first is to improve the regulation of room rentals, ensuring that people can access basic rights, such as the health card or the Minimum Living Income. The second challenge refers to going beyond tax incentives, although we welcome the tax breaks for renting housing to administrations or non-profit entities, measures that make it easier for social entities that provide housing to expand their housing stock for particularly vulnerable groups, such as the homeless.
In conclusion, HOGAR SÍ and Provivienda value positively the new Housing Law in Spain, although there are still pending challenges to address the problems of homelessness and lack of affordable housing in Spain. The identification and prevention of homelessness, the strengthening of the role of the Third Sector in the provision of housing, as well as the improvement in the regulation of renting and the search for additional measures, are key aspects to guarantee access to decent and adequate housing for all people. Both organizations hope that the implementation of the Law will contribute to address the problems of accessibility and housing maintenance that affect the entire population and hit the most vulnerable sectors of our society even harder.
