“We can't wait for the market to magically provide a solution“, Sánchez defended during his statement after the signing, in which the Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda also signed the document, Isabel Rodriguez; the Minister of Economy, Trade and Affairs, Carlos Body; the chairman of the ICO, José Carlos Garcia de Quevedo; and the State Secretary for Housing and Urban Agenda, David LucasDuring his performance, the socialist leader referred more than once to the personalities involved in the development of the agreement and repeated his argument.
“We all learned with the bursting of the real estate bubble that there are no miracles and things like that the invisible hand of the market of supply and demand is not enough to guarantee the constitutional right to access housing,” he defended. Furthermore, in an attempt to depoliticize housing actions, Sánchez has relied on the words of Ursula von der LeyenPresident of the European Commission and member of the European People's Party, in defense of public action to tackle the housing crisis.
“We share with the President of the European Commission the will of a government that has been determined from the very first minute to decent housing is a right enshrined in our Constitution“, he explained. Thus, and although it has recognized the limitations of the government, since the majority of powers in this matter are divided between autonomous communities and municipal councils, it has guaranteed that its administration “is not abstracted”, but rather “uses all the levers of power”. General administration of the State.”
“The will to do things from the public power, the same one that brought us to the last term of office, first housing law in the history of democracyhas led us to multiply by eight the budgetary resources allocated to housing policy or to promote the affordable rent plan,” he stressed. The Chief Executive continued to list the actions carried out in these years, from the youth bonus to the 2,500 million euros in guarantees for the purchase of the first home, as an example of his government's commitment
Protect public housing, “paid for with all taxpayers' money”, in light of the privatizations we have seen over the past decade “a product ofand financial crises and intimidation by vulture funds' is the goal that Sánchez set during his inauguration session promised to increase the social housing stock by 180,000 homesbringing the country closer to the European average, which is around 10%, which is more than seven points above the Spanish average.
To those who doubted the government's determination to deliver on this promise, I would like to remind you that There are already more than 80,000 in various stages of development”, he has defended. However, he has acknowledged that “much needs to be done to put into practice what the Constitution says and to fulfill the public housing policy as a pillar.”
Two more strategic axes
In addition to the social approach to access to housing, Sánchez has defended that the agreement signed today touches on two other axes of interest to his government: public-private cooperation and the energy efficiency. In the case of the first, he has defended that the construction of these 43,000 homes “will allow developers to access financial resources in sufficient quantity and quality”, which will benefit areas and jobs”, although he has praised the housing sector.
In terms of energy efficiency, he stressed that “it is important to strengthen it.” “It is not about building or rehabilitating, but about doing it in a sustainable way and guaranteeing climate neutrality,” he developed, ensuring that there were also economic savings and strategic gains. “If we make that effort, we pay lessmandatory for all new homes from 2030. Let us turn this bet into a great opportunity for Spain to gain competitiveness, prosperity and well-being,” he concluded.