The Deputy Secretary of Economy and Sustainable Development of the PP, Alberto Nadal, launched a proposal for accelerate the procedures for converting offices and other premises for non-residential use in housing, while defending the idea that Spain should once again become a country of small owners.
In an interview, the popular leader exposed some of the proposals defended by the PP regarding housing and began by emphasizing that currently There is a supply problem in the sector, taking into account the number of housing units created and the migrant population entering the country.
According to data from the Bank of Spain, the excess demand over supply is estimated at around 720,000 homes. To ensure that this stock remains at this level and that the problem does not worsen, Nadal emphasizes that in Spain Around 200,000 homes would be needed each yearand yet, in 2024, the number of housing projects started was 130,000. “Not only are they missing, but every year there are even more,” he stressed.
In this sense, the one who was also Secretary of State in the government of Mariano Rajoy defended the application policies that promote housing constructionwhich, according to them, could come from the creation of more developable land or the rehabilitation of existing buildings which do not have residential use.
“What we need is more housing; more housing can only come from two placesor create additional developable land to build new housing or existing homes or existing buildings to be used for housing,” he explained.
Regarding the land proposal, Nadal recommends provide “appropriate incentives” so that there is developable land and reduce bureaucratic delays to be able to deliver housing. “This deadline must be reduced in an extraordinary way. This is an emergency,” he stressed. Likewise, the leader of the PP proposes to simplify changes of use in buildings, since currently if an office building wants to be transformed into housing the bureaucratic slowness “is enormous”.
Denounce interventionist measures
In addition to these two proposals, Alberto Nadal also wants to eliminate “interventionist measures” such as those incorporated in the Housing Law, which allow in certain circumstances to intervene in rent prices, believing thatand proved “totally unsuccessful” in places where they were applied, including Spain.
“Government measures to fix rent prices had already been implemented by Franco in the 1960s and the result was the decline of city centers and the virtual disappearance of the rental market,” he argued.
With this set of measures, Nadal believes that the supply problem in the market could be resolved, and when this is resolved, it will be necessary dealing with demand-side push policiesby reducing taxes for young people and families who have more difficulty accessing housing.
Nadal highlighted his approaches to housing, championing the promotion of policies that make it easier to buy homes, not just the rental market. “All public policies should not necessarily be linked exclusively to rent, but also to purchase. We must ensure that Spain becomes a country of small landowners again,” he stressed.
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