Foros de la Plataforma por una Vivienda Digna

[Qwarto]

"In Spain housing has long been conceived as an investment rather than a right of citizens"

http://www.eukn.org/spain/news/2008/06/interview-jose-luis-arroyo_1021.html

“In Spain housing has long been conceived as an investment rather than a right of citizens”, says José Luis Arroyo, responsible for housing at the Spanish Youth Council. Compared to other European countries, Spain has experienced one of the most profound increases in housing prices in recent years. This dramatic rise has especially affected young people, who often find themselves unable to obtain an affordable home. Many would have to allocate around 85 percent of their income to buy or rent a house on the free market. The fact that young people in Spain suffer a high degree of job insecurity restricts their ability to access the housing market even further. As a result, a lot of young people are financially unable to leave their parents’ home. In Madrid for example, only 13 per cent of people between the age of 18 and 24 have been able to move out of their parental home. Only for the segment of the population aged 30-34 this number reaches a 71 percent rate. This delay in emancipation, as the Spanish like to call it, has been linked with many social and psychological problems such as family dependence, lack of space for personal development, lack of self-esteem and personal frustration. The Spanish Youth Council (Consejo de la Juventud de España) is actively involved in the country’s housing issue.