In parliament on Tuesday, Balearic housing minister Marta Vidal said that the government is adopting measures contrary to the national housing law, which has led to the withdrawal of thousands of apartments from the rental market.
Under discussion was the government's Safe Rental programme. Vidal maintained that this will ease the rental market and she explained that the government will itself rent empty homes from owners at market prices and then sublet them at prices 30% below the average for a given area.
"If we put a portion of the 100,000 empty homes on the market, thousands of apartments will come up for rent. This will ease the situation because there will be more supply and prices will drop."
Vidal acknowledged that this may be perceived as an "interventionist" measure, her party (Partido Popular) having consistently criticised the last Balearic government and the current Spanish government for its interventionist policies.
However, she insisted that there are interventionist measures that "work" and that this scheme will be "non-coercive".
Among the opposition parties, Cristina Gómez of Podemos noted that they had made a similar proposal for a government rental agency, while Josep Castells of Més per Menorca voiced his support for the scheme and asked for it to be extended to large property owners, e.g. banks.
The government will enter into agreements with estate agencies and property management companies which will be placed in charge of the day-to-day operation of the scheme. The rental period will be up to seven years.
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Wow problem solved , not so fast no real black & white document issued as of yet a substantial list of unanswered questions as to how this is going to work where is the $ going to come from and who is going to manage and monitor all these properties , as has been said it’s good to see something it’s just not that simple a large section of these people are struggling financially all the time and are not in the system .
It will be interesting to see how many property owners will be willing to have possible nerdowells in their homes regardless of the rent received.
Who is paying for the reforms to get these properties in a rentable state?
They should be applauded for at least making an effort. In most developed World cities social housing systems are in an effective state of collapse. Young people in particular have little or no hope. Communities and close family bonds simply cannot be maintained unless people can afford to stay local. Who looks after the aged relative when you can’t afford to live near them? Or how do relatives help with child care duties if their parents work and live miles away? How many Airbnb casual renters are going to bother, or even know to check, on an infirm neighbour? Some people have made fortunes from the housing bubble, but it’s been at the cost of sustainable communities- and we are the poorer for it.
All looking good until the mention of estate agents being involved .