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Once again, the Sánchez government has demonstrated its ineffectiveness in solving the problem of housing shortages and high prices in Spain. Far from intervening in the market with the construction of new buildings, public rental apartments and controlling the prices imposed by real estate agents and individuals, it is now introducing the 'youth rental bonus' . In the end, a public contribution that will end up in the private hands of the owner.
A few days after the mass housing demonstration held in Madrid, Moncloa is making its move. The Council of Ministers approved the distribution of 200 million euros for the third edition of the Youth Bonus , a similar amount to the 2022 call and which was sold out in less than eight hours. Now, a benefit of 250 euros per month is offered for two years so that young people between 18 and 35 years old can pay their rent.
An unconvincing measure
It is striking that the Government's main partner, Sumar, considers this measure to be insufficient, as does the Madrid Rental Trade Union, one of the main organisers of last Sunday's demonstration.
The reasons are that they focus only on a part of those affected , as it is not only a problem that affects young people and there are many families with problems accessing housing. Another reality is that the owners will end up receiving this type of aid , raising the price of rents for the tenants who benefit.
Landlords have information about their tenants that would allow them to identify those who can apply for the benefit. In this way, they could claim this increase 'under the table' or threaten to throw them out of the apartment .
It should be remembered that rent control is currently only applied in Catalonia and its 271 municipalities, declared as a stressed area. The Government, with the Housing Law in hand, wants to 'force' all administrations to apply the price control system .
In a recent speech, the President of the Government assured that he did not want “a Spain of rich owners and poor tenants ”. However, with this measure implemented, the aid is being given the opportunity to go directly into the pockets of the owners and large holders of homes in the national territory.
While it is true that with the new Housing Law a series of regulations were put in place that meant eliminating the CPI and establishing a new reference index to set the price of housing from January 2025. Now new limits would be contemplated.
What is clear is that in 2024 the regulatory text contemplates a maximum increase of 3% , so if 700 euros are paid per month the new cost can only be 721 euros at most. The problem lies when it comes to rentals without a contract, in which the increases can be much higher and without taking into account the limitations imposed by the Government.
Short-term rental registry
In addition to aid for young people, the Government wants to have a Royal Decree ready before the end of the year to create the so-called Digital One-Stop Shop for Leases . This is intended to regulate seasonal, tourist and room rentals. It will serve as an essential way to pursue fraud, protect those who really need seasonal accommodation, this type of accommodation and put a stop to illegal tourist accommodation.
The measure will involve the intervention of the Property Registry , since it will be the registrars who will issue the registration number and will submit it to the Digital Single Window. Everything happens because the owners have, individually, an identification code .
The identification code will have to be requested for both tourist and temporary rentals and even rooms offered on these portals.
And now what?
What is certain is that government management of housing is very slow, inefficient and drives up rents . The 'rent strike', despite its illegality, continues to orbit the Spanish real estate market.
But the reality is stark. In 2023, only 57,260 young people benefited from the rental bonus aid out of the total of 110,000 who applied for it, meaning that it only reached 0.6% of the potential recipient population of the more than nine million young people between 18 and 35 years old in Spain.
Tenants continue to suffocate and, despite the owners' fear of a strike or occupation, the management of the youth rental bonus continues to be chaotic . An insufficient budget and unrealistic conditions that do not solve the serious housing problem that Spain suffers.