This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Pareja Eastaway, M. Articles by Varo, I. S. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The Tenure Imbalance in Spain: The Need for Social Housing Policy

Department de Teoria Econòmica, Escola d'Empresarials, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda Diagonal, 693 3a planta, 08034 Barcelona, Spain, mpareja{at}eco.ub.es

Ignacio San Martin Varo

Servicio de Estudios, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA),28001 Madrid, Spain, jisanmartin{at}grupobbva.com

Spain is usually chosen as an example of an unbalanced picture among tenures. The owner-occupied sector has been growing since the 1950s while the rental sector has become smaller. Surprisingly, other European countries are at present following the same pattern, but mostly we also see an important function for social housing. Taking into account that public housing, built by public developers, is almost negligible and that government housing policy programmes basically stimulate ownership, the 'social housing' concept lacks an adequate definition in Spanish housing policy. In this sense, the encouragement of the rental sector through public policy should provide an alternative for low-income families. Despite different cultural housing backgrounds, the emergence of a reliable rental sector in Spain appears to be the most promising strategy for solving current housing problems. The aim of the paper is twofold. On the one hand, it analyses the evolution of the rental sector through recent decades, stressing how different central government regulations have affected the tenure structure in Spain. On the other, it considers the rental sector as a potential instrument for authorities to meet the housing needs of low-income families. Housing policy still plays a crucial role in offering the opportunity for certain groups to access a suitable house. What can be called the 'European shift' to the market can cause irreparable damage to those families that have benefited from former, direct or indirect, public means.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?