The Spanish government, together with “bad bank” Sareb, will make thousands of social rental homes available. The aim is to create a total of 24,000 homes in this sector, in areas with the highest social housing shortage.
Sareb is a government-backed financial institution that takes over bad loans and real estate from banks that have run into trouble. They are making 10,000 homes available to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda. Minister José Luis Ábalos, signed an agreement for the transfer of the houses, last Wednesday, alongside Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs Nadia Calviño and Board Chairman Jaime Echegoyen Enríquez de la Orden of Sareb.
Prime Minister Sánchez explained the main points of the agreement in a press conference. “Within Europe, Spain has the lowest number of social rental homes. That is why we are going to encourage large real estate owners and financial institutions to make part of their portfolio available to vulnerable households. Sareb will provide 10,000 new homes. 5,000 of those will be made available to the government at short notice. Allocation will be to vulnerable families. The other 5,000 homes will be available in the medium term,” said the prime minister.
Sareb previously promised 5,000 homes to the autonomous regions, bringing the total to 15,000 new social rental homes. The Ministry of Transport, Urban Agenda and Mobility will cover the costs of making the homes ready for living. The rent will low and at a fixed monthly price.
10% more homes from financial entities
The Prime Minister also confirmed financial institutions agreed to a faster and higher investment for the Social Housing Fund. Through the fund, financial institutions make homes available at low prices to families who lost their home as a result of a mortgage arrears.
The agreement means they will increase the fund’s number of homes by 10%. This is a total of 11 thousand homes available; the agreement extended until January 2022.
The Netherlands has highest social housing percentage in Europe
With 2.5% of all new homes, Spain has the lowest percentage of social rental homes in Europe after Romania, Estonia, Croatia and Portugal. The Netherlands is the European leader in this regard: 30% of all new homes are for social rental. Austria (24%) and Denmark (20.9%) follow the Netherlands.
