The bill that grants tax incentives for renting will be processed through an emergency procedure in Congress, where for now it does not have the necessary support.
The Government takes a new step forward to approve the Housing Law, despite the unfavorable report of the Judiciary, which considers that the text violates the competences of the Autonomous Communities. The Council of Ministers approved yesterday, February 1, the referral to the Cortes, for its parliamentary processing by the urgency procedure, of the draft Law for the Right to Housing. The text was presented last October 26 and is the first regulation which develops the constitutional right to decent and adequate housing.
The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sanchez, stressed that the law is essential because the market has proved ineffective in responding to the needs of these groups: "The public authorities have to guarantee the right to housing and prevent speculation". Pedro Sánchez, for his part, maintained that "the law is not against the owners but against speculation", it protects their rights and recognizes their obligations.
One of the most important measures of the new regulation is the one related to the public social housing stock. Raquel Sánchez explained that it will be subject to permanent protection "so that it cannot be sold off, as has happened in the past". For her part, Belarra valued the imposition of a mandatory reserve of 30% of any development for subsidized housing and that of that 30%, 15% must go to social rental, so that a public housing stock can be built little by little, in line with European countries. In France, as an example, there is seven times more social housing than in Spain, and in the Netherlands the number is twelve times higher than in Spain.
The law will improve the regulation of evictions in situations of vulnerability, said the minister and stressed that, from now on, social services will coordinate more effectively with judges to provide housing solutions to those affected. Belarra has stressed that the law will ensure that the housing alternative sought for these families is a home as such, and not a shelter, as is currently happening in some autonomous communities.
Raquel Sánchez explained that the competent Administrations will be able to declare areas of stressed residential market for a limited time and establish measures to prevent abusive increases in rent and achieve a drop in prices, either by reducing the cost of rent or by increasing the supply. In these areas, Ione Belarra added that the tax incentives envisaged are designed to make it more profitable for owners to lower rental prices.
Regarding empty homes, the law provides that municipalities can make a surcharge of up to 150% in the Real Estate Tax (IBI) that taxes them.
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