Can The Basque Model address the national housing crisis in Spain?

Spain’s government is looking towards the policies of the Basque country in an attempt to tackle the national housing crisis.

Denis Itxaso, the Housing Minister for Euskadi (Basque Country), came to Lanzarote recently to explain the measures that have inspired the current Spanish government, invited by Lanzarote´s Socialist Party.

The Basque Country, in the north of Spain, has largely escaped the housing crisis that has affected many other parts of Spain, especially the major cities and coastal regions. This is attributed to various measures, such as the fact that all protected housing in the region is guaranteed in perpetuity. As a result, there is no option to purchase social housing, and it cannot be used for speculation.

Other policies include promotion of protected rental properties as a priority; a charge on vacant properties that incentivises owners to put them to use and a sustained investment in housing that reaches up to 1.2% of GDP.

A public/private initiative that encourages owners to give up their homes for protected rentals, with reduced but guaranteed rent and the contractual certainty that the property will be returned in good condition at the end of the contract has also been successful.

Over the last five years the Basque Government has helped 11,000 young people to set up their own homes and become independent.

At the talk, Maribel Santana, ex- Director General of the Canarian Institute of Housing Lanzarote, contrasted the situation in Lanzarote, where she claimed that the Coalición Canaria government who were in charge from 1993 until 2019, had not addressed social housing policies for almost three decades. On the other hand, critics of the Basque model point out the emphasis on protected housing and rentals has not succeeded in cooling down house values or rents, which are among the highest in Spain.