Pedro Sánchez launches the first portal for the state-owned public housing stock and calls for 'realistic rents for real wages'

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Pedro Sánchez launches the first portal for the state-owned public housing stock and calls for "realistic rents for real wages"

President's News - 2026.9.7

Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has launched the first portal for the state-owned public housing stock, set up by the State Housing and Land Agency CASA47, with 800 homes currently available and a further 1,500 due to be added very soon, spread across the whole country.

He outlined this during the event 'More public housing, more affordable housing', held at the Espacio Larra in Madrid, at which the Minister for Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, also spoke. Pedro Sánchez has lamented that "for far too many people, looking for a home has become an obstacle course" in Spain and "many other countries in the European Union". He therefore emphasised that we must "make having a home a realistic aspiration, within everyone's reach, with rents that are realistic in relation to real wages".

That is the aim of CASA 47, with the launch of the first portal for the state-run public housing scheme, as he explained; this will gradually increase the initial supply of affordable public housing, with new houses and flats becoming available every quarter. "Thanks to CASA 47, anyone will be able to easily view the available properties and apply for the home that best suits their needs and means, through a streamlined and transparent process that allows them to track the progress of the allocation process at all times."

Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

Permanent protection of social housing

In this regard, he noted that "it represents an unprecedented commitment to accessibility to social housing and, above all, a determination to never again repeat the mistakes of the past", given that "over the last 45 years, 2.7 million social housing units were built in Spain, but "misguided policies facilitated and allowed these homes to lose their social housing status and cease to serve the middle and working classes", ultimately ending up "in the hands of vulture funds". He has therefore given an assurance that "something like this must never happen again, as the homes at CASA 47 will be protected 'forever'", so "they will never be a business opportunity for a select few, nor will they be removed from the social housing stock when the economic or political climate changes", as "what is built through everyone's efforts must remain at the service of everyone", he argued.

Housing characteristics and the economic situation in the towns

The chief executive has explained that under CASA 47, the rent will take into account the characteristics of each property and the economic situation in each town and region. Specifically, tenants of these properties will never have to spend more than 30% of their income on rent, ensuring that this is 'affordable rent', as well as "stable", as the tenancy agreements will have an initial term of 14 years, with the possibility of extension up to 75 years. "Some will say that this measure is 'interventionist' in the housing market." "It is, and proudly so, because the market is broken: a market that excludes hundreds of thousands of families from an essential right is a market that does not work," he emphasised.

Budget increased eightfold and the Housing Act

"This Government is not going to step aside, as other administrations are doing. Not whilst there are young people and families in our country forced to choose between paying their rent and living without anxiety when the 30th of the month comes around. "Of course we are intervening in this market: with every tool at our disposal, and with a level of resources unprecedented in the history of Spain," he emphasised. In this regard, he pointed out that in recent years the Government has increased the housing budget eightfold and has passed Spain's first Housing Act, which "works wherever it is implemented", by helping to control rent prices and increase the housing supply, as "the more than nine million people living in any of the 317 towns designated as areas of housing stress are well aware".

By way of example, he pointed out that, in Barcelona, the price of new contracts has fallen by 4.7% since the area was designated as a 'high-demand zone', and in several towns in Guipúzcoa the price has fallen by almost 4%. Instead, where the law is not enforced, "rents just keep on rising". "When a regional government blocks a law that works, simply because it comes from the Government of Spain, it is not that government they are harming. They harm the young man who wants to become independent. They are causing harm to the couple who want to have a child. It hurts families who can't make ends meet. They are harming the person who is being evicted from their neighbourhood because they can no longer afford the rent." Sánchez has argued that "housing policy means ensuring that your citizens can afford a decent home, a roof under which to build a home, as required by our Constitution". He also pointed out that, although progress is being made in the "right direction", things could "move much faster if we had everyone on board".

Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

Over 120,000 affordable rental homes made available

Beyond the Housing Act, Sánchez said that we must boost the construction of affordable housing, which is the aim of the 2026-2030 State Housing Plan approved in April, with a budget of 7 billion euros - three times that of the previous plan. In this regard, he stated that "the figures back up this commitment", as more than 120,000 affordable rental homes have been made available; and in the first quarter of this year alone, 2,800 new homes were put out to tender, marking the highest volume of public tenders in 18 years.

"The Government of Spain is, and will continue to be, there: using every means at its disposal, providing resources and promoting a legal framework that offers solutions. "CASA 47 and the website we are launching today represent another step towards ensuring that decent housing is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all," he concluded.

Isabel Rodríguez: "The tender process must be open to the public"

Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The Minister for Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, praised the president of the Government of Spain's drive, which goes beyond what is required by the Constitution, and has cited - as key milestones in the nine months since Sepes was transformed into Casa 47 - the recovery of Sareb's assets to make more than 42,000 homes and 2,500 plots of land available; the utilisation of state-owned assets; the tendering of nearly 2,500 homes currently being processed; curbing speculation through the purchase of properties for use as affordable public housing, with a 100 million euro tender; and the launch of the online portal.

Rodríguez explained that the aim of the Casa 47 portal is to ensure that the housing allocation process is transparent and that "there is no repeat of situations where social housing developments are allocated to councillors, municipal architects or their relatives". Nevertheless, he has called for "everyone to pull in the same direction", referring to the regional governments and local entities, whilst also expressing confidence that agreements can be reached in Parliament.

Non official translation

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