The Community of Madrid claims to be the “leading” region of Spain in terms of sheltered housing (VPO). According to data from the Autonomous Administration itself, between those that have been built and those that are in progress, the region has “with more than 25,200” buildings with this classification, whose objective is to control the prices at which alcohol is sold. What is not announced is that this number could be much higher, 9,871 officially protected housing (VPO) have not been lost between 2019 and 2025. The data, which advanced the La Cadena SER of this year and resulting from a petition for transparency in Madrid, demonstrates that since the coming to power of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the Community does not have a good part of the buildings constructed with this rating ―the majority lowers the Vive Plan― because its protection period has expired and has passed on the free market with prices much higher than those acquired.
In some cases, 10,000 VPO is less than a region as tense in terms of housing issues like this due to the policy of its Executive, which has repeatedly expressed its refusal to make the classification of VPO permanent, which is happening in other communities such as the Basque Country and in European cities like Vienna, whose models demonstrate the social success of this regulation. In fact, in the Community of Madrid there is no floor that maintains protection, while the Basque Country has 55,000. In the Community of Madrid, VPOs are supported by regulations that protect them between 15 years, those whose final objective is su venta, and 10 years, those who are dedicated to rental, no more.
Vivienda vice-consejero José María García told the Madrid Assembly in May 2024 that the eternal maintenance of VPO causes “the long-term persistence of a model that ends up degrading the quality of buildings, deteriorating neighborhoods and ultimately harming families.” The thesis defended by García is that in addition, the sale of the houses of these “vulnerable” families allows “subsequent generations to have life opportunities”. For the More Madrid deputy in Asamblea Jorge Moruno, this statement confirms that the Executive does not want to take charge of the management of these buildings for material reasons, and for this reason it prefers to address the free market.
When the protection ends, these houses can pass, in the best case scenario, from the hands of their owner to those of someone else. The veterans who acquired these houses for a modest price and resold them for much more, said the politician concerned, were the only beneficiaries of the operation. However, there is a high probability that a fund will acquire these properties to speculate with an asset born in the opposite way. “We cannot allow official protected housing to end up in low-level funds without investing public resources in it, and for this reason we must protect the regulations as happens in the Basque Country,” denounces Más Madrid spokesperson Manuela Bergerot, who adds that the formula for lowering prices in Madrid involves creating a stock of protected housing that grows instead of being lost in recent years.
The regional government has defended its autonomy since it is in Spain that the largest number of VPOs are built, with around 11,000 between 2021 and 2023, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Housing. In addition, it has been confirmed that this figure is double that of Catalonia, which occupies second place with 5,495 housing units of this type. Moruno explains that these figures are misleading because they are absolute figures which do not value the relationship with population density nor the proportion that these OPVs represent in relation to the total number of houses built. Considering this last parameter, the Basque Country, again, would be the first step because of all the houses built in the same period (3,586) 37% correspond to the VPO, while those of Madrid fall to 22% of the total.
According to a study carried out by the Vasco de Vivienda Observatory with data from the ministry, if we take into account the number of OPVs built in relation to the inhabitants of each region, Madrid is not near the podium. There are still around four houses built per 1,000 inhabitants in this region, compared to 17 in Euskadi, compared to around 17 in the Canary Islands, Catalonia, Asturias and Andalusia, or an average of five in Spain.
The regulations to regulate the sale of protected housing that suits the Basque Country within the framework of the paradigm were established in 2003. Since then, listed properties retain this status for life and cannot under any circumstances begin to be sold on the open market at any price. If those who acquired this type of villa at an affordable price want to lose it, they will have to pay a price regulated by the Administration, and the same goes for family members who inherit these properties.
In Catalonia, OPVs do not benefit from this classification permanently, but are protected between 10 and 30 years, but the sale price remains limited and the autonomous government has a purchasing preference to prevent it from entering the free market. In the Valencian Community this happens in the same way, that is, although they are not protected forever, the regulations make it difficult to release them with measures such as raising prices.
However, the general situation in Spain is that OPV has “closed its expiration”, says Moruno. It is clear that of the six million houses of this type built between 1951 and 2015, the majority do not meet this qualification. “The law does not offer an alternative that gives security to those who need it, but it is an asset for speculation,” concludes Moruno.
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