Three government levels are responsible for housing policies, with land use control mostly at local level. Find all Apartments For Sale in Qatar
Three levels of government develop and enforce housing policies in Spain: central government, provincial authorities (17 self-governing communities) and local authorities (more than 8,000 municipalities, although most are quite small). The private sector, however, plays a key role in land ownership, urban planning and residential development.
This relationship is shown by the nature of land use policies. Although a person could own the land, the government has the authority to regulate and enforce all urban development processes. Landowners shall not be allowed to develop their land without the prior consent of the local government. They don't just need a building licence (which is granted automatically in most cases). The government must declare the land "developable" before reaching this stage, and define the exact conditions for such construction. The government's key method for this is its urban plan. Urban planning in Spain is basically a local obligation, but the structure is very decentralized as there are more than 8,000 municipalities in Spain.
Housing policies have encouraged home ownership disproportionately
Article 47 of the Spanish Constitution recognizes the right to decent and suitable housing for all people. It also states that the government must ensure that all citizens have this right. However, no institutional structure (such as public housing) supported all residents with high-quality affordable housing. Instead, most residents relied on the private sector to supply homeowners.
However, as shown in Figure 1, 70 years ago, leasing was half the market. This transition can partly be explained by the high economic growth in the 1960s and the assumption that homeownership was a better investment than rental. But this systemic reform also reflects years of public policy aimed at promoting ownership and restricted attempts to encourage private and public rental accommodation.
Housing grants can be split into two categories in Spain. Firstly, the so-called "stone subsidies" aim to make affordable housing available for rent and for sale more accessible. Second, the government offers citizens direct financial subsidies to help them pay rents or buy a home. The housing policy has been focused since the mid 20th century on protecting for-sales housing through the subsidization of construction and transactions using tax relief and mortgage rates.
Recent policies have changed to rental housing promotion
Interestingly, the last House Central Government Plan (2018 to 2021) has eliminated incentives for the promotion of home ownership and direct household grants. Rather, it has introduced new subsidies to support renting or buying homes in smaller communities for people under the age of 35. (fewer than 5,000 residents). It also provided incentives for the renting and care of low-income old adults. The effect of these new measures is still too soon to be assessed.