# Our week 3 answer: a radical-centre housing programme for Spain, set against the parties' plans

> A radical-centre housing programme for Spain builds a lot more homes where the jobs are and keeps a permanent share of them affordable. It signs metropolitan compacts that lay infrastructure ahead of demand, makes compliant buildings legal by right with deadlines and deemed approval, prices every building rule, gives landlords a public rent guarantee in exchange for long indexed leases, and judges every measure against Democracia 21's target of €350 a month for a young person earning €1,300. It takes the public stock from the left, the supply and legal certainty from the right, and sets the decisions at the scale of the metropolitan labour market.

- URL: https://www.radicalcentre.eu/en/articles/week-3-answer-radical-centre-housing-programme
- Language: en
- Publisher: radical centre / centro radical
- Published: 2026-10-30
- Topic: Housing
- Author: radical centre
- Licence: CC BY 4.0

## Key points

- The government's toolkit is public stock and rent rules: the 2023 Housing Law, Casa 47 with €13 billion over ten years and leases of up to 75 years, and a €7 billion state housing plan.
- The PP promises at least a million new homes, faster land and less red tape, with no budget or timetable in the published summary.
- Sumar asked Congress in May 2026 to ban companies and funds from buying homes; Vox asked in June 2026 for 'national priority' in housing aid. Both were voted down.
- Democracia 21 proposes a ten-year neighbourhood plan, a €350 rent target for a €1,300 salary, tax cuts for under-35s and a sovereign housing fund.
- Our programme joins the pieces: metropolitan compacts, permits by right with deadlines, a permanent affordable share in every new district, a public rent guarantee and one affordability target for everything.

Week 3 of our radical-centre programme was about housing, and it started where week 2 did: with the ten housing problems in Miriam González's launch speech for [Democracia 21](/en/articles/democracia-21-miriam-gonzalez-proposals-radical-centre) on 10 October. Over seven days we read the OECD's *Brick by Brick*, Jerusalem Demsas, Alain Bertaud, Nolan Gray, Edward Glaeser, David Madden and Peter Marcuse, Housing Europe, the European Affordable Housing Plan and Jane Jacobs, and we gave every problem in the speech at least one answer. Today we put those answers into one programme and set it next to the parties' offers for the election of 29 November.

One tension ran through the week, and it decides the programme. We are suspicious of the progressive who wants affordable housing everywhere except on the empty plot down the street. We are just as suspicious of the libertarian who thinks that scrapping the rules is the whole job. Spain needs many more homes, built fast, with a share kept affordable for good. Every party has a piece of that.

## What the parties propose

The PSOE-led government has built its policy on public stock and rent rules. The 2023 Housing Law, Law 12/2023 of 24 May, lets regions declare stressed markets where rents on new contracts are generally tied to the previous contract, and where large landlords, defined as owners of more than ten homes, are capped by a reference index. It raised the share of new development land reserved for protected housing to 40% on greenfield land and 20% in urban renewal, made protected status permanent on land zoned for it, and allowed councils to surcharge property tax by up to 150% on homes empty for more than two years. Then came Casa 47, the state housing company that replaced SEPES in December 2025. According to the government it will invest €13 billion over ten years, aims for public housing to reach at least 8% of the stock, offers leases of up to 75 years and caps rents at 30% of the area's average household income. The [2026–2030 state housing plan](https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/consejodeministros/resumenes/Paginas/2026/210426-rueda-de-prensa-ministros.aspx) adds €7 billion, 60% from the state and 40% from the regions. When Sumar pushed further in May, the PSOE answered with taxes: on purchases by non-resident foreigners, on empty flats, 21% VAT on tourist flats.

Sumar's proposal, debated on 19 May 2026, was to ban companies, legal entities and "vulture" funds from buying homes and to abolish the listed property companies known as socimis. Only ERC, EH Bildu and Podemos backed it.

The PP's Contract with Spain, presented by Alberto Núñez Feijóo on 19 October, promises at least a million new homes, priority for young people renting and buying with what it calls the biggest aid in history, faster access to land, less bureaucracy with better coordination between administrations, squatters evicted within 48 hours and a review of more than a hundred tax rises. The published summary gives no budget or timetable.

Vox took its housing plan to Congress in June: "national priority" for Spaniards in protected housing, social rent and housing aid, tighter checks on the municipal register, and lower or no taxes on the first home bought by Spanish young people, families and workers. The whole chamber voted against, the PP included.

Democracia 21 proposes a national neighbourhood-building plan backed by cross-party agreements and ten years of legal certainty, a target that someone earning €1,300 should not spend more than €350 on rent, the removal of housing taxes for under-35s until that target is met, and a sovereign fund for protected and affordable housing built from €10 billion of unspent European funds.

Read side by side, the left has the most complete idea of a permanent public stock, the PP has the right instinct about land and red tape, and Democracia 21 has the clearest target and the best time horizon. Sumar and Vox both ration the existing homes, by owner or by passport, and neither adds a single one. We looked at the big numbers on [day 19](/en/articles/spain-housing-promises-180000-a-million-what-was-built): every governing party has promised large figures and the completions have run far behind.

## Our programme

Build where the jobs are, at metropolitan scale. The state and the regions sign compacts with each metropolitan area covering homes, transport and money, and the public sector lays trunk infrastructure ahead of demand, as Bertaud recommends. New districts follow Jacobs: small blocks, mixed uses, many plots and density near stations. Approved plans can no longer be voided for fixable formal defects, which is what froze Madrid's eastern districts. That is our [national neighbourhood plan](/en/articles/national-neighbourhood-plan-spain-ten-years-legal-certainty), the answer to the speech's problem 7, and the [first half of the 25% exercise](/en/articles/exercise-housing-25-percent-cheaper-build-more-faster). The [second half](/en/articles/exercise-housing-25-percent-cheaper-no-displacement-no-windfalls) keeps the land gains in public hands and protects tenants while supply catches up.

Make compliant buildings legal by right. One digital file, sector reports in parallel, deemed approval when the council misses its deadline and published waiting times, as we set out for [building permits](/en/articles/spain-building-permits-three-years-paperwork-how-to-cut). Councils get part of their income from homes completed, protected homes above all, so a [licence stops being a revenue tool](/en/articles/councils-licences-revenue-incentives-housing-spain). Every building rule gets a published price per square metre and a review date, with parking minimums first in line, as in our piece on [rules that raise costs](/en/articles/rules-that-raise-housing-cost-per-square-metre-spain).

Keep a permanent affordable share in every new district, built and run by public and limited-profit landlords on the [Vienna model](/en/articles/vienna-model-social-housing-middle-class). Here the government is right, and Casa 47's long leases and income-linked rents are good tools. We would finance the share through a [housing fund with an arm's-length board](/en/articles/next-generation-funds-sovereign-housing-fund-spain), revolving loans at cost and affordability written into the land, which is Democracia 21's idea made durable.

End the war between tenants and landlords. Every lease at or below the reference rent gets a free [public guarantee against unpaid rent](/en/articles/tenants-landlords-ending-the-war-spain) in exchange for longer, indexed tenancies. Limits apply to rises within a tenancy, initial rents on new homes stay free, and a supply target decides when the limits end, which is where the [European evidence on rent control](/en/articles/rent-control-europe-catalonia-berlin-evidence) points.

Make €350 out of €1,300 the [official target](/en/articles/young-people-housing-cost-350-of-1300-spain) every measure is judged against. Keep the under-35 tax cut, cap it to first homes of modest value, give young renters the same value, and move tax over time from transactions to the [annual value of land](/en/articles/what-is-a-land-value-tax), as we argued in our piece on [who gains from the cut](/en/articles/housing-taxes-under-35s-spain-who-gains). Register every promise with dates and have an independent body count homes handed over each month.

## The synthesis

The left gives this programme a large, permanent, affordable stock and tenants who can plan their lives. The right and the market-liberal tradition give it supply: buildings legal by right, competition among builders and legal certainty for ten years. What fits neither is the scale and the yardstick. Demsas showed that very local decisions hand the veto to people who already have a home, so we decide at the scale of the metropolitan labour market, where the young person looking for a flat counts as much as the neighbour who already owns one, and we judge everything by one public number. Next week the programme turns to social mobility, where that young person comes first again.

## FAQ

### What is the radical-centre housing programme for Spain?

Build much more where the jobs are, through metropolitan compacts, infrastructure laid ahead of demand and permits by right with deadlines, and keep a permanent share of every new district affordable. Rentals get a public guarantee against unpaid rent in exchange for long, indexed leases, and every measure is judged against a target of €350 a month for a young person earning €1,300.

### What do Spain's parties propose on housing?

The PSOE-led government relies on the 2023 Housing Law, the state housing company Casa 47 and the 2026–2030 state housing plan. The PP promises at least a million homes, faster land and less bureaucracy. Sumar wants to ban companies and funds from buying homes. Vox wants Spaniards to have priority in housing aid. Democracia 21 proposes a ten-year neighbourhood plan and a sovereign housing fund.

### What is Casa 47?

The state housing company that replaced SEPES, created by the Council of Ministers on 9 December 2025. According to the government it will invest €13 billion over ten years, offer leases of up to 75 years and set rents at no more than 30% of the area's average household income.

## Sources

- [Ley 12/2023, de 24 de mayo, por el derecho a la vivienda](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2023-12203), BOE (2023)
- [CASA47: objetivos y claves de la nueva empresa estatal de vivienda](https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/serviciosdeprensa/notasprensa/vivienda-agenda-urbana/paginas/2026/solicitud-casa-47.aspx), La Moncloa (2026)
- [Feijóo presenta su contrato con España: un millón de viviendas, menos impuestos y control migratorio](https://www.moncloa.com/2026/10/19/feijoo-espana-3451414/), Moncloa.com (2026)
- [PSOE rebaja el plan de Sumar para prohibir la compra especulativa de vivienda y propone gravar pisos vacíos](https://www.idealista.com/news/node/898214), idealista / Europa Press (2026)
- [El PP rechaza en el Congreso la propuesta de Vox de exigir la prioridad nacional en ayudas para vivienda](https://www.bolsamania.com/noticias/empresas/economia--el-pp-rechaza-en-el-congreso-la-propuesta-de-vox-de-exigir-la-prioridad-nacional-en-ayudas-para-vivienda--22776272.html), Bolsamanía / Europa Press (2026)
- [Democracia 21, el nuevo partido de Miriam González, se presenta a las generales del 29N por Madrid y Barcelona](https://www.infobae.com/espana/2026/10/10/democracia-21-el-nuevo-partido-de-miriam-gonzalez-que-busca-romper-los-dos-bloques-ferreos-del-bipartidismo-se-presenta-a-las-generales-del-29n-por-madrid-y-barcelona/), Infobae (2026)