More housing, fewer evictions

PalmaWhat happened in Madrid with Maricarmen Abascal, who at 87 was kicked out of the apartment where she had lived her whole life and which she had paid for religiously, or the case of Pilar López from Palma, evicted and living in a car for months, is nameless. Even more dramatic is the suicide of Olga, 54, a mother of two daughters, which took place in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. The housing crisis today marks a precariousness that no longer only affects the most vulnerable, but also the middle class, with young people especially lacking options that go beyond family support. The right to housing is a fundamental right, but the harsh reality is that more and more people do not have it guaranteed: when this affects the elderly or children, the problem, as a society, shames us.

Yes, of course, the right to property is also fundamental. Avoiding a head-on collision between one right and the other must be possible. That is why it is important to stop such painful evictions as these, which violate the necessary balance between both rights. The evictions that have now provoked popular indignation are unfortunately part of a long chain of years of nonsense, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. Finally, it seems, then, that political groups are preparing to move so that such extreme cases as these do not happen again. The social alarm has pushed the State government to seek the essential support of Junts, which has also changed its position at the same time.

We are facing the toughest side of the housing crisis. Next week we will know if, indeed, a legal solution—a legislative change—is found that serves to stop such painful evictions. The UN rapporteur for these issues himself has warned of the lack of “proportionality” in the Spanish law regarding this matter. The rapprochement between the PSOE and Junts, a party that is now talking about putting a brake on the vulture funds that own apartments and that in exchange demands tax cuts for small landlords, will also have to have the support of the groups further to the left to move forward. We hope that, in this critical matter, the desire to find the point of agreement that was not possible at the beginning of the summer will finally prevail.

There is a social outcry to strengthen housing protection, a global urban problem. In large cities like New York and Berlin, the debate goes beyond halting evictions: it is focusing on the possibility of opening the door to expropriations to boost public housing. The respective mayors, Zohran Mamdani and Elif Eralp, are proposing this as a key social element of their programs. It remains to be seen how and to what extent they apply policies of this nature. Expropriation is a constitutional mechanism, here and in most liberal states, a mechanism that administrations exercise by providing guarantees and a regulated price to the affected owners, and which serves to carry out relevant works, usually communication routes, facilities, etc. Public housing is today a first-order necessity, a relevant work.

Halting evictions and boosting the expansion of the housing stock (both public and private, both new and rehabilitated) have become unquestionable priorities.