{"id":14377,"date":"2026-10-16T15:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webecpol.esade.edu\/?p=14377"},"modified":"2026-10-16T18:09:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T16:09:50","slug":"expand-social-housing-while-we-build-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/webecpol.esade.edu\/en\/blog\/expand-social-housing-while-we-build-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How can we expand social housing while we build it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
This post is part of a series of specific policy proposals by economists and social scientists. We hope they prove useful in the electoral and post-electoral debate. They reflect the position of the author, not that of the centre.<\/div>\n
\n

Key ideas<\/h3>\n

\u2192 The problem.<\/strong> Spain has only 318,000 social rental homes, 1.3% of its housing stock: six times below the European average and more than ten times fewer than France, Denmark, Austria or the Netherlands. It is the consequence of devoting barely 1% of public spending to housing, and an absence that feeds policies of dubious effectiveness in the rental market.<\/p>\n

\u2192 The solution.<\/strong> Building is the destination, but there are three ways to expand the social stock right now: mobilising empty homes with a guaranteed rent, as Bizigune does in the Basque Country; buying homes when they are sold through pre-emption rights, the Paris and Barcelona route; and buying the right to rent them out for 15, 20 or 25 years, as Ireland, France and Hamburg do. Moving from 1% to 2% of public spending on housing, some \u20ac7.5 billion a year, would be enough to almost double the social stock within a decade, provided it is well managed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If I were in government, and especially if I were a progressive one, the housing-market statistic that would most embarrass me is the one on social housing. Spain has only 318,000 social rental homes, 1.3% of its stock. Six times below the European average and more than ten times fewer than France, Denmark, Austria or the Netherlands. We know why: when we built it, we sold it, and after the financial crisis we stopped building it. That is the great consequence of devoting barely 1% of public spending to housing. And it is an absence that feeds policies of dubious effectiveness in the rental market, such as banning evictions.<\/p>\n

Building social housing is the best option, but it will be neither quick nor easy. Can we, in the meantime, expand the social stock without damaging private renting? Only in one way, and one of limited reach: bringing the scarce empty housing that exists where it is needed into residential renting. That is what Bizigune does in the Basque Country: the owner hands over the use of the flat for around six years in exchange for a guaranteed rent (up to \u20ac700, extendable in pressured areas), full management, insurance and financing for refurbishment, while the tenant pays a rent proportional to their income. Belgium does the same with its agences immobili\u00e8res sociales<\/em>. The same formula can be extended to tourist or seasonal flats that want to return to ordinary renting.<\/p>\n

From here on, interventions no longer add homes to the market: they move those who need it most up the queue. The queue is still there, but putting the most vulnerable first is an objective in itself. There are two routes.<\/p>\n

1. Buying: rights of first refusal and redemption.<\/strong> The rights of first refusal and redemption allow public administrations to buy homes when they are put up for sale, with priority over other buyers, in order to (for example) add them to the public social housing stock. Municipalities short of social rental housing can acquire homes when they are sold, starting with large landlords (companies and funds that bought portfolios from the banks). Paris is the benchmark: it has passed 23% social housing largely by buying existing buildings; in 2024, three out of every four social homes financed came from acquisition and refurbishment, not from new construction. In Barcelona, the public stock went from 7,500 to 11,500 homes in a decade, partly thanks to some 1,600 purchases.<\/p>\n

How can it be activated? First, with a solid legal basis: in Berlin, the courts restricted pre-emption in 2021 because it rested on future risks of displacement. Regional law must delimit the areas clearly (the pressured zones already declared are a good starting point), require notification of every transfer and set short response deadlines. Second, with a price ceiling: never pay more than it would cost to produce an equivalent new social home, with independent valuation. Third, with a stable multi-year fund: Barcelona went from 377 purchases in 2021 to only 36 in 2024; without predictable funding, pre-emption is a dead letter. And fourth, by prioritising whole buildings, cheaper to manage than scattered flats, thereby avoiding some of the most controversial purchases from investment funds. To this can be added the homes held in the banks’ Social Housing Fund and by Sareb (those unoccupied and in pressured areas), and even part of the State’s forgotten property. There are few of them, but every habitable space for a vulnerable household is gold.<\/p>\n

2. Buying time: the right to rent out.<\/strong> This is not about acquiring the home, but the right to rent it out for 15, 20 or 25 years. Ireland leases homes long term, paying between 80% and 85% of the market rent; France has the usufruit locatif social<\/em>, in which a private investor buys the bare ownership and a social body the usufruct for at least 15 years; Hamburg and Berlin buy \u201coccupancy bonds\u201d from private landlords in order to reserve existing flats for households in difficulty. The owner gains security; the public sector, immediate social housing. A provision of the Housing Act that ultimately did not go through would have allowed some 25,000 homes to be added this way.<\/p>\n

Ireland also teaches what to avoid. It is closing the programme because rents could only go up and, once it ends, the State is left with nothing. To activate it properly, the operation must be structured as a usufruct or lease registered at the land registry; tendered in lots, awarded to whoever offers the largest discount on the market price (starting at 10% to make it attractive); with the rent indexed to inflation, never only upwards; including a purchase option at the end of the period, and approved only if its present-value cost is lower than that of building. In exchange, clear tax breaks (transfer tax, property tax, income tax) for the owner.<\/p>\n

How far does it go?<\/strong> Moving from 1% to 2% of public spending on housing means some \u20ac7.5 billion a year. With an average valuation of around \u20ac3,000\/m\u00b2 in pressured markets, a 70 m\u00b2 flat plus refurbishment costs around \u20ac230,000: some 30,000 homes a year, almost doubling the social stock in a decade. Spent instead on buying rental rights with only a 10% discount on a rent of \u20ac1,000, each home would cost around \u20ac10,800 a year, before whatever the tenant pays: enough for hundreds of thousands of homes, with the limit being available supply, not money. But beware: buying with financing at 3.5% plus maintenance costs something similar each year, and at the end the home is public. Buying time is the bridge; buying the home, the destination. The right to rent out with a purchase option looks like a good intermediate strategy.<\/p>\n

The timetable must be aggressive. In the first year: extend Bizigune to all pressured areas, transfer Sareb’s and the Social Housing Fund’s empty homes to the public stock, pass the regional pre-emption laws and launch the first tenders for rental rights. From the second year, purchases with a multi-year fund and annual tenders. And at three years, an independent evaluation saying which route delivers more per euro.<\/p>\n

Finally, it is often forgotten that buying the home, or the right to rent it out, is only the beginning: it has to be managed well. It is of little use if arrears, flats left empty between tenants or deferred maintenance pile up afterwards. Four principles prevent that. Separating ownership and management: the administration sets the rules and prices, and day-to-day management is contracted out to professional operators, public or third-sector, with performance-based contracts (days taken to re-let a home, arrears rate, maintenance investment, tenant satisfaction). Rents linked to income and reviewed every year: those whose situation improves pay more, without any need to evict them, unless they pass a threshold that lets them comfortably pay a market rent. Ring-fenced accounts: rents cover maintenance and replacement, and the surplus is reinvested. In Denmark, when a development pays off its mortgage, tenants keep paying the same and the difference feeds a national fund for refurbishment and new housing. And early social support at the first missed payment, far cheaper than an eviction.<\/p>\n

For all this, a figure that does not exist in Spain today is missing: affordable housing bodies, non-profit or limited-profit, like the Dutch woningcorporaties<\/em>, which manage some 2.25 million homes. With tax advantages, access to public land and stable financing, in exchange for compulsorily reinvesting their profits and submitting to public supervision.<\/p>\n

All these routes require budget. We need to move from the paradigm of regulation to that of funding. And this stock is also the condition for other reforms, such as a more flexible rental contract or public arrears insurance, not to leave anyone without an alternative. It is in our hands to create a social rental stock starting now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is part of a series of specific policy proposals by economists and social scientists. We hope they prove useful in the electoral and post-electoral debate. They reflect the position of the author, not that of the centre. Key ideas \u2192 The problem. Spain has only 318,000 social rental homes, 1.3% of its housing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow can we expand social housing while we build it? - Center for Economic Policy - EsadeEcPol<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/webecpol.esade.edu\/en\/blog\/expand-social-housing-while-we-build-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How can we expand social housing while we build it? - Center for Economic Policy - EsadeEcPol\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post is part of a series of specific policy proposals by economists and social scientists. 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