The Government has launched this Monday its flagship measure to solve the problem of access to affordable housing in the Balearic Islands: the program Secure Rentalwhich aims to capture empty homes to offer them to residents at a reduced price of 30 percent below market value. In this context, it has disseminated the requirements both for landlords to offer their apartments under the program and for tenants who want to access subsidized rents. This is where some difficulties in the implementation of the proposal are beginning to be noticed. For example, tenants must have 5 years or more of residence in the Balearic Islands and have a maximum annual income of 6.5 times the weighted IPREM: 60,667 euros for a tenant. In addition, they must have a guarantor, something that puts an obstacle in the access. The Government has told La Voz de Ibiza that they will be asked for “solvency. The guarantors are asked the same requirements as the tenants and the sum of all the guarantees make up the total coverage“. In this way, the guarantors will be “jointly and severally liable“, they clarify. In addition, the tenants will assume all the costs of services and supplies and minor repairs due to the use of the property.
A program for people with “average and solvent incomes”.
These requirements are in line with what the president of the Govern, Marga Prohens, who during the presentation of the program said that it was aimed at “people with average and solvent incomes, and who can safely pay a rent“. “Because we have been saying it: the housing problem is no longer a problem of low incomes and vulnerable people, but it is already a problem of middle incomes and young people,” she said.
How the Rent Security reduction is applied
In accordance with the provisions of the Rent Security program, the tenant will pay 30% less than the appraised value.
The Govern has set maximum rental prices to be paid to owners, adapted to the reality of each island, on which the reduction that tenants will benefit from will be applied. In Ibiza and Formentera, this value is 2,100 euros. Therefore, tenants who access the program will have to pay a maximum rent of 1,470 euros. As examples of the 30% rental price reduction: in the case of a price to be paid by the CAIB to landlords of 1,200 euros, the 30% reduction places the price to be paid by tenants at 840 euros.
Proposed modification
This Tuesday the Parliament will deal with a proposed amendment in the form of a Proposition Not of Law (PNL) by Més per Menorca.
The political group has considered“inconceivable that an alleged housing policy consists of subsidizing those who are already able to access housing without aid and, instead, exclude those who have greater difficulties -not to say impossibility- to access if not with the support of the administration,” which, he denounced, makes the program Rent Insurance, to “allocate huge amounts of public money to subsidize speculation of the rentier classes. A claim that “can be labeled as anything but housing policy”, according to Més, which, for this reason, has considered “necessary that the Parliament discuss and, if necessary, correct the elements of the program that moves away from being a decent housing policy”.
