The high price of housing has long become the main problem for Spaniards. He reflects that it already is for 19.2% of citizens and 37.1% place it among their first three difficulties. Faced with this, both the appearance of Minister Isabel Rodríguez last week in Congress – in which – and the department’s latest advertising campaign have angered Sumar, who demands that the PSOE intervene in the market to address the problem. This Tuesday, the minority partner of the coalition has once again raised the tone on this matter by suggesting the resignation of the minister.
“Hope phones cannot be proposed as a star measure,” the group’s parliamentary spokesperson, Verónica Barbero, said at a press conference, calling Rodríguez’s appearance “disappointing” and going further by stating that if she is “not willing to take” the necessary measures to stop the rise in prices in the real estate market, she should “make way” for someone who is. The Compromís deputy, Alberto Ibáñez, expressed himself more clearly hours later. “This minister’s time has passed and she must give way to another who understands the duty to protect the constitutional right to housing,” he stated.
In the face of criticism, the minister spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, has come out in defense of the actions of the department and its head and has assured that the Executive “takes the problem very seriously.” In the press conference after the Council of Ministers, Alegría referred to the approval of the law for price control (from the previous legislature) or to the fact that the Government has “multiplied the budget by eight” in this matter, as he said. “We have just presented a state plan that includes financing of more than 7,000 million euros. The plan of previous PP governments contemplated 1,700.” The spokesperson stressed that “the priority” of the Executive is to ensure this “fifth pillar of the welfare State.”
“We are running out of patience. We cannot continue another minute after two years waiting for measures to be adopted that have some effect on the people. We ask you to respond one by one to the measures proposed by Sumar,” Barbero had insisted first thing in the morning. Alegría has thus defended the minister—“we do not share those criticisms,” she replied to Sumar’s spokesperson—but above all she has vindicated the Government’s policy. Sitting next to him, the Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, from Sumar, has said that “it is normal for the coalition partner to have its own position on an issue as important as this” and has trusted that an agreement can be reached on the star proposal of this party, that is to freeze the renewals of up to 300,000 rental contracts that expire in the coming months and could have an unaffordable increase for tenants due to the great tension in the market.
The minority partner of the coalition presented a royal decree on this matter a week ago in a public event with four of its ministers, including Bustinduy. Among other initiatives, the rule proposes the freezing of those rental contracts that expire now, giving more protection to tenants, a new sanctioning regime for seasonal, room and tourist rentals; and tax reforms to curb speculative purchasing. But its approval is unknown, because it still needs to be negotiated with the PSOE, which is the one who has the powers.
“It is regrettable and frivolous that the latest news has been an advertising campaign in which an attempt is made to joke about the housing situation of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the State,” said Gerardo Pisarello, first secretary of the Congressional Board, regarding the advertisement of Rodríguez’s department to promote his policies and in which he portrays three elderly people sharing a flat from a young age reproducing the clichés of the inconveniences of living together (“30 years leaving your underwear in the bathroom,” one complains. “And my yogurts?” another asks when opening the refrigerator). “If the ministry wants to honor, it is not by making jokes or frivolous campaigns, but by stopping the rampant speculation expanded by large holders, banks and investment funds,” added Pisarello. “It is good to have long-term plans, but a sense of urgency is also needed. Act here and now to lower rental prices, put an end to speculative purchasing and deploy a brave tax policy against investment funds and large fortunes. That is the obligation of the PSOE. If the minister is not able to take on these urgent measures, her time in the ministry will undoubtedly be shortened,” concluded the Commons deputy.
The Minister of Housing assured upon her arrival at the Senate this Tuesday afternoon that the parliamentary groups, in reference to Sumar, “have to do their job to draw attention.” It is a response to the spokesperson for Yolanda Díaz in Congress, who had suggested the minister’s resignation in her press conference in the Lower House this Tuesday. “The important thing is that we are working, that we work together and that this Government has many things to do, especially in terms of housing,” said Rodríguez.
The head of Housing has also made reference to the advertisement that her ministry has had to withdraw: “With everything we are doing, the only reproach that can be made to myself and the entire ministry team is an advertising campaign, that everything that happens to me is that,” she defended about the video, which showed three elderly people sharing a flat in the year 2055.
“Housing policy is like sport, if you don’t practice it, it doesn’t work. That’s why you have to propose policies,” said PSOE spokesperson Montse Mínguez – who this Tuesday replaced Patxi López in the Congress press room – before attacking the PP communities for opposing the application of the housing law that would allow limiting rental prices in their territories, a regional competition.
Socialist sources acknowledge that this issue concerns “everyone” and that any initiative proposed “is little,” but they believe that the department cannot be accused of doing nothing, an impression contrary to that in Sumar. The discrepancy in housing policy has marked the relationship between the partners both this term and the last legislature, when Podemos was part of the coalition Executive. Sumar is in favor of greater market intervention to be able to lower prices more quickly, and not trust everything to the construction of a public park that will take years to have effects. They believe that no matter how positive the macroeconomic data in Spain is, if people do not make ends meet because what they spend on rent or mortgages takes up a good part of their salary, the Government will have few options to revalidate results in the next elections.
