Por Redaccion 
Colau encourages the PSOE to intervene in the housing market
EH Bildu’s deputy in the Congress of Deputies, Oskar Matute, rejected on Monday in Gijón that there is a problem of ‘squatting’ or systematic arrears in Spain and advocated for public intervention to facilitate access to housing.
«The housing problem is not solved only with tougher laws against ‘squatting’ or with tougher laws against arrears, which would surely be improved with a determined public intervention, with better wages and with more dignified living conditions for everyone,» he argued.
This was stated in statements to the media before participating in the roundtable ‘Housing is not a business, it is a right’, along with the deputy of the Mixed Group in the General Assembly of the Principality of Asturias, Covadonga Tomé, and the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, at the Railway Museum.
In this regard, he relied on data from the General Council of the Judiciary and drew attention to the fact that Spain is the second country in Europe in terms of installed alarms.
«I believe there is an interest in talking about ‘inquiokupación’, which is essentially arrears, which I believe has existed all along and that no one applauds, but in any case, the role of those of us who act in politics is also to anticipate problems and to identify the causes of those problems,» he emphasized.
He pointed out that if there are arrears, it will be necessary to see why people stop paying, while if there is ‘squatting’, it will be necessary to see what type it is.
«Perhaps entering into discourses that feed the idea that our elderly neighbor who goes to buy bread and then finds four Albanian-Kosovars ‘squatting’ in the house is not a real phenomenon, which perhaps has more to do with tens of thousands of people who have been evicted and who go to houses that investment funds have withheld and kept closed in search of a greater economic optimization scenario,» he warned.
He stressed that access to housing is the primary concern of citizens, noting that it is not a problem of the present, but for decades «a model has been cultivated that made housing a privilege and a benefit for a few and a headache for the majority of people.»
He therefore advocated for clear policies to actively defend the right to housing, meaning that the public power guarantees all people have a roof over their heads, a dignified home. For him, it is difficult to imagine a dignified life without the guaranteed right to a roof.
He highlighted that Euskal Herria Bildu, from its municipal strength and also from its capacity to influence the highest institutional places where it is represented, is putting forward measures to try to turn around a market «that makes speculation and housing as patrimonial use a primary element.»
In this sense, he considered that many things can be done, apart from the proposals by the PSOE and other parties that always opt for tax breaks and exemptions, which, in his view, only fuel the continuous price hike bubble, making access to housing difficult.
In contrast, EH Bildu advocates for measures that make the Administration an active agent of public intervention. On this issue, he said he does not understand why housing or the real estate market should be devoid of any intervention, «when there is no element of the economy untouched by public intervention,» he added.
Matute, who therefore advocated for public intervention through taxes, but also through charges, inspections, and other policies aimed, for example, at giving permanent status to protected housing.
He particularly emphasized the importance of having public housing parks that help alleviate, at least, the «serious» situation, and even «dramatic» in his opinion, of many people who cannot emancipate themselves or plan their future or life «in dignified conditions,» he emphasized.
INTERVENE IN THE MARKET
When asked about possible solutions, he cited Catalonia as an example. He also mentioned that in the Basque Country, it was decided that protected housing can never lose that classification and therefore cannot be sold on the open market.
According to the deputy, it also involves optimizing the percentages of protected housing built on land that becomes public housing. In the Basque Country, it is required that 50 percent be public and rental housing.
He added that vacant housing can be mobilized through public programs. In this sense, the Basque Government has had a program since 2004 that acquires private homes to rent them to people who do not pay more than 30 percent of their salary, while the rest is supplemented by the Basque Government. It is a negotiated rent, always below market price and with certain guarantees for the owner.
Another option, according to him, is to establish a charge on vacant housing. He stressed that there are three million vacant homes in Spain.
However, he indicated that it is about taking steps to change a mentality that makes housing a heritage so that it is understood as a right. And while he acknowledged the right to profit, he rejected it from reaching usury. «You can make money without crushing anyone’s head,» he emphasized.
Colau, for her part, urged the coalition government to «get moving» in response to the citizen’s «demand» to facilitate access to housing. Especially, she emphasized that the PSOE finds it difficult to confront speculative sectors.
Regarding the measures implemented in Barcelona, she highlighted that during eight years of government, they demonstrated, according to her, that many policies that the PSOE said were impossible could be implemented.
Among these, she mentioned proposals for the construction of thousands of social rental housing units, or the regulation of tourist rental housing, which were becoming a «predatory phenomenon that was emptying residential housing from the city center.»
In her view, if there is political will, much more can be done than has been done so far, as she cited the actions taken in Barcelona as an example.
«It has already been shown that leaving the initiative to the private market and to vulture funds and speculators and rentiers, the problem is not solved,» she emphasized.
Additionally, she urged to «hold accountable» the private sector, that is, «impose fines on speculators or those who harass tenants.» She also advocated for regulating rents and deploying inspectors to enforce the law that regulates them.
Colau emphasized that if what has been implemented in Barcelona were to scale up to the regional governments and the state level, with the economic and competent capacity that the State has, «I am sure we could be much closer to solving this very serious problem.»
«It is time for the Socialist Party to move from words to action and accelerate intervention in the housing market,» urged the former mayor of Barcelona.
Tomé, on the other hand, advocated for emulating «bold, brave, progressive» housing policies that will definitely help improve the housing crisis. In her view, finding solutions to this should be a top priority for a progressive government like that of Asturias.