Affordable and stable housing

CONTEXT

The current regulations on rent in place in Spain may lead to a number of different health problems. Until March 2019, the Law on Urban Leasing (LAU) established a duration for rental contracts of 3 years and, through Royal Decree-Law 7/2019, of 1 March, on urgent measures in the scopes of housing and rent, these contracts are now to last a minimum of 5 years when the owner is a natural person and 7 years when the owner is a legal person. Likewise, the regulation does not establish any measure of control for increases to the price of rent in between contracts and foresees the commencement of an eviction process due to non-payment or a delay in even a single collection of rent.

Therefore, living in rented accommodation provides residents with a very low level of stability, given that they can be evicted from their homes every 5 or 7 years, have very little control on improvements made to the property and cannot participate in the decision-making processes of their building’s homeowners association. This situation is exacerbated when there are sharp increases in the rent and when the owner has no interest in renewing the current rental contract, and therefore instability is a factor that affects everyone who lives in a rented property. In this sense it should be highlighted that in 2011 19.7% of Catalan households were living in rented accommodation.

This level of instability is heightened due to the fact that the people who live in rented accommodation quite often earn less than homeowners and as such suffer the effects of economic and financial crisis situations to a greater extent. Accordingly, in 2017 there were 13,308 evictions in Catalonia, 64.8% of which were related to rent contracts. This situation is more critical in the province of Barcelona, where the figure was 69.28%, and is highly prevalent in cities like Barcelona, which has registered rates as high as 84.91%. It should be stated that legal statistics do not reflect the numerous cases in which people are forced to move out of their homes due to the non-renewal of their contract or an abusive increase in their rent (known as “invisible evictions”) or instances of family units that cannot keep up with their payments and decide to leave before legal proceedings can be brought against them.

This rental instability, and therefore the possibility of people losing their homes, may have significant effects on the physical and mental health of its victims. Identified health problems include anxiety, depression, loneliness, emotional discomfort, schizophrenia, psychotic disorders and alcohol-related dementia. Additionally, people who are subject to eviction processes suffer heart problems, diabetes, depression, stress and anguish.

OBJECTIVE

Improve rental stability conditions.
Anticipate and deal with situations in which there is a risk of people losing their homes due to payment difficulties or the termination of their contract.
Facilitate the payment of rent.

PROPOSALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Proposals and recommendations for users

Form an association with the rest of the tenants in the building to negotiate with the owner in order to improve rental conditions and prevent excessive rent increases between contracts. In this sense, renters can join the "Sindicat de llogaters" renters union currently being consolidated in Catalonia to defend the rights of tenants.
Negotiate the establishment of a longer rental contract term than the minimum period established in the LAU.
Negotiate the establishment of a masoveria urbana contract (the dwelling is yielded by the owner for an agreed term in exchange for its rehabilitation and maintenance by the assignees) or a grace period in a traditional rental contract in order to guarantee good housing conditions.
Contact the local administration in the first month in which there is a payment problem or as soon as the owner manifests a desire to not renew the contract.

Proposals and recommendations for the administration

Improve the conditions of private tenancy contracts:

Provide support for people seeking rented accommodation on the private market.
Offer aid for the payment of the deposit and the first month’s rent to facilitate access to housing for people with enough income to pay their rent but no savings.
Associate public aid for owners (aid for renovation, for example) with the Government of Catalonia’s rental price index, the maintenance of rental prices or the extension of the rent contract.
Establish municipal aid for the payment of rent, which may be in the form of emergency aid or stable aid to reinforce the aid provided by the Government of Catalonia. At the same time it will be necessary to expand existing aid programmes and facilitate access to them (especially if the aid is not processed by the municipality in question, but by the offices of the comarcal council located in that municipality).
Foster masoveria urbana agreements between landlords and tenants.
Monitor tourist accommodation rented in the municipality. Two types of measures can be established for this:
- Monitor and penalise tourist accommodation not legally established as such.
- Regulate and limit legally established tourist accommodation.

Facilitate access to public housing or housing included in public programmes:

Develop new affordable housing, especially for rent or transfer of use.
Foster and reinforce social rented housing pools, improving the conditions offered to owners: associate aid with renovation; reimburse property tax (IBI); repairs to the property, payment of energy certificates, etc.
Foster a rent mediation programme in addition to the social rented housing pool with the aim of providing advice on private rent contracts.
Create a municipal housing transfer programme that establishes improved conditions for renters while offering guarantees and improved conditions for owners.
Foster an inclusive social housing pool.

REFERENCE EXPERIENCES

Information only available in Catalan

Sindicat de llogaters: Sindicat de veïns i veïnes de Barcelona que defensa el dret a l’habitatge i un lloguer assequible, estable, segur i digne per sobre de l’ús econòmic o especulatiu de qualsevol tipus. A través de l’organització i la mobilització el Sindicat dona resposta a les demandes creixents al voltant del lloguer mitjançant serveis d’assessorament sobre drets i deures i sobre les condicions contractuals dels lloguers. El Sindicat també vol tenir incidència en qüestions de caràcter més general com la Llei d’Arrendaments Urbans (LAU) o el desenvolupament de mesures legislatives pel control i la limitació dels preus del lloguer.
Projecte “Pisos Buits”. Fundació Hàbitat 3. Aquest programa de cessió d’habitatges ha permès la captació de 250 habitatges del mercat privat per destinar-los a unitats de convivència en situació de vulnerabilitat. Per fer-ho possible Hàbitat 3 s’ha encarregat de la millora de l’habitatge (a partir d’una subvenció, i de l’avançament de la resta del cost que es descompta mensualment de la renda del lloguer) i ha garantit a les persones propietàries el pagament de la mensualitat des del primer dia.
Microcrèdits socials per evitar la pèrdua de l’habitatge habitual – Consell Comarcal de l’Alt Penedès Projecte que té com a finalitat facilitar l'accés o evitar la pèrdua d’habitatge social de lloguer per a persones amb problemes econòmics. A través dels microcrèdits es pretén respondre a problemes de liquiditat, com ara una reducció sobtada d’ingressos o la demora en la percepció de determinats ajuts socials.
Fundació Hàbitat Solidari, Calella. es va constituir per iniciativa de Càritas Parroquial de Calella per tal de facilitar l’accés a l’habitatge a persones i famílies amb pocs recursos econòmics, en risc d’exclusió o amb dificultats per arribar al lloguer ordinari. http://www.calella.cat/ajuntament/adreces-i-telefons/fundacio-habitat-solidari
Campanya "Donem vida als pisos buits" – Ajuntament de Sabadell. Difusió. Aquesta campanya es va treballar directament i conjuntament amb el teixit associatiu (AAVV) que van manifestar ser coneixedores d'habitatges buits i propietaris que podrien posar el seu habitatge a disposició de la borsa.

LEGISLATION

Constitució Espanyola de 27 de desembre de 1978
Ley 4/2013, de 4 de junio, de medidas de flexibilización y fomento del mercado del alquiler de viviendas.
Llei 18/2007, de 28 de desembre, del Dret a l’Habitatge de Catalunya
Llei 4/2016, de 23 de desembre, de mesures de protecció del dret a l'habitatge de les persones que es troben en risc d'exclusió residencial
DECRET 75/2014, de 27 de maig, del Pla per al dret a l'habitatge.
Real Decreto 106/2018, de 9 de marzo, por el que se regula el Plan Estatal de Vivienda 2018-2021
Decret LLei 5/2019 de 5 de març, que estableix noves "Mesures urgents per millorar l'accés a l'habitatge"
Reial Decret Legislatiu 1/2007, de 16 de noviembre, text refós de la Llei General per la Defensa dels Consumidors i Usuaris.
Real Decreto-ley 7/2019, de 1 de marzo, de medidas urgentes en materia de vivienda y alquiler.
Llei 22/2010 de 20 juliol del Codi de Consum de Catalunya.