The President of Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, has announced that his region will move forward with its own new Andalusian Housing Law some time in the first half of 2025, which among many measures will include a “shock plan” to provide 20,000 new subsidised housing units for rent in five years.

Moreno was joined by Spain’s Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, and the Mayor of Málaga, Francisco de la Torre, at the fourth edition of the National Housing Congress in Málaga, where he presented the plans. 

The thrust of the law seems to be more action and less bureaucracy. “Governments are now more of a problem than a solution,” Moreno said, acknowledging bureaucratic slowness and the inaction of the state in recent years.

In big Andalusian cities like Seville, Málaga and Granada, the price of rent has skyrocketed in recent years and locals are increasingly priced out of the market. Short-term tourist rental properties have grown exponentially in the post-pandemic period, something that has cut supply and caused prices – whether rental or to buy — to rise.

READ ALSO: Renting a room in Spain costs 90% more than in 2015

The problem of access to affordable housing is a situation that “we all have to solve together,” Moreno said, referring to cooperation between regional governments and the national government, as well as provincial and local councils.

Spain’s national government is a left-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists (PSOE) while Andalusia and most regions of Spain are run by the right-wing Partido Popular (PP). 

For this reason, Moreno committed to working despite “the political differences” and offered the Minister open “dialogue” to “overcome obstacles” and make progress on a “common objective”. Rodríguez, for her part, called for a “national alliance” built on “empathy and social complicity”.

“We must have the firm determination to put the general interest above any other interest,” Moreno added.

Since the passing of Spain’s Housing Law in 2022, right-wing regions have criticised the Sánchez government for inadvertently worsening the rental market, while Socialists have blamed regional governments for not properly implementing the law.

READ ALSO: Has Spain’s Housing Law completely failed to control rents?

While outlining the plans, Moreno committed to identifying and using land at an affordable price and increasing supply by making more housing subsidies available, as well as creating priority areas in towns and cities where access is most difficult, and taking steps to better target government aid, which he says is currently “very dispersed”.

Moreno pointed out that Andalusia has its own housing policy model to facilitate both construction and access and the plan seems clear: to build. The President stressed that the Andalusian government is already working to remove bureaucratic barriers and get shovels in the ground because “the more there is on the market, the easier it is for prices to fall.”

According to Moreno, a lack of construction is the root of the problem in failing to address the disparity between supply and demand. He cited statistics from the Banco de España estimating that demand in the region is at around 90,000 homes.

“Between 2014 and 2018, just over 3,200 subsidised homes were built in the entire Andalusia region, a low level that we are trying to reverse by tripling it in the last five years to reach more than 10,250 subsidised homes,” Moreno said. 

READ ALSO: Rent in Spain’s big cities now over €1,000 a month