The Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, met this Monday with the Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations (FRAVM) of the Community of Madrid, with whom she addressed the situation of "anguish" experienced by neighborhood communities affected "by the presence of illegal tourist accommodations in their daily lives, disrupting their coexistence." Tourist accommodations that, as Rodríguez has remarked, also "deprive other people of being able to access decent housing at an affordable price."
In an event that was also attended by the Secretary of State for Housing and Urban Agenda, David Lucas, and the spokesperson for the PSOE in the Madrid City Council, Reyes Maroto, the minister warned that in the capital "only 7% of tourist homes are legal." A situation that, in her opinion, represents "an atrocity that is preventing the life developments of thousands of Madrid residents."
Rodríguez has been emphatic about the necessary reaction to this phenomenon: "It is there where public administrations must also act forcefully to prevent speculation." Precisely, Rodríguez has conveyed to the FRAVM the commitment of the Government of Spain "to the right to housing, to the fulfillment of Article 47 in all its dimension, which speaks of housing as a social good."
"We are acting; we have launched initiatives such as empowering neighbors so that from their communities they can veto the presence of tourist accommodations," the minister has claimed, celebrating that it will thus be possible "to make it impossible to market illegal tourist accommodations on platforms such as Airbnb." "More homes and less Airbnb, much less if these are illegal," defended the head of Housing and Urban Agenda, who also highlighted the work of the Executive to address "the application of VAT to tourist homes as an economic activity," given that they are "competing unfairly with the rest of the operators in the hotel and restaurant sector of our country."
"Lowering the rent would be possible today in Madrid"
During the presentation of the measures that the Government is implementing to guarantee the right to decent housing for all, Rodríguez highlighted that, although "regulation is being addressed with measures that work," these "are being boycotted by other public administrations, such as price containment."
"We have managed to lower the rent by 6% for families who live in rental housing in Barcelona. That would be possible to do today in Madrid," confirmed the minister, who also recalled that in Madrid there are "500,000 owners in Madrid who could be benefiting up to 90% of rental income if they were lowering 5% of the rent to their tenants." Another rule with which, according to her, "we would all be winning, and above all, dignity in access to housing would be winning."
