2023-12-10 17:16:12
60% of households have some problem related to housing and one in three households is in residential exclusion, for which “housing does not fulfill its integrating role and they cannot enjoy adequate housing.”
This is reflected in the report ‘Prevention and attention to residential exclusion: Explanatory factors’, financed by the General Directorate of Family Diversity and Social Services of the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030.
The study, which presents data on housing and residential exclusion at the state level, concludes that the “incessant escalation of housing prices and the loss of purchasing power in an inflationary context is suffocating many households and impoverishing the middle classes.”
“The situation could worsen if urgent measures are not taken in this upward context,” says Elena Martínez, head of Research and Evaluation at Provivienda, who warns that “2.3 million households are not yet in exclusion, but are at risk.” of falling into it.”
Those who are most at risk of falling into residential exclusion in the future are those who have suffered a supply cut, those who believe they will have to change their home soon or households that have had delays in housing payments.
Among the problems analyzed, the results of the report show that what most affects residential exclusion is the price of housing and the problems derived from the lack of affordable housing.
“The relationship between poverty and housing prices is clear and increasing. 17.4% of households in Spain remain below the threshold of severe relative poverty after paying for housing,” concludes Martínez, who adds that “There are 5.5 million households in residential exclusion, of which almost 4 million remain in a situation of severe relative poverty after paying for their housing.”
In the case of poor households, exclusion reaches 74% of the population and practically all of them have some housing problem.
“There are more and more cases in which, in order to make housing payments, they are forced to live in buildings in poor condition, become overcrowded or change neighborhoods. The result is that practically all poor households has problems related to housing,” says Elena Martínez.
Rent impoverishes the middle classes
The report also ensures that renting “impoverishes” the middle classes and “exacerbates the problems” of the most vulnerable households. The lack of affordable housing mainly affects those who live in rent.
Specifically, it specifies that, while 11.3% of households with a mortgage are in a situation of severe poverty after paying for their housing, this situation affects 37.8% of households that rent at market price. Regarding economic overexertion (allocating more than 30% of income to paying for housing without counting supplies), the difference between owners and tenants is even greater.
9% of households that live in property make this extra effort compared to 47.5% of households that rent, almost half of the entire population that rents. “This overexertion in paying rent has a much greater prevalence among households with lower incomes, affecting 7 out of every 10 households that live in rent,” adds Elena Martínez.
Furthermore, the problem of housing affordability does not exclusively affect poor households. “The data is conclusive with the middle classes that live in rent: 3 out of every 10 households with intermediate income levels are in a situation of economic overexertion,” warns Martínez.
As the report states, more than 250,000 households with medium incomes are falling into severe poverty after paying for housing, which shows that the lack of affordable housing leads to poverty not only for low incomes, but also for households with medium incomes.
“The importance of the data in the report lies in the fact that the key elements are issues on which public policies can intervene, there is the capacity to act on them,” says the general director of Provivienda, Gema Gallardo.
The study shows that the system “is failing by not allowing a large part of the population to have their basic needs satisfied and by causing impoverishment and worsening of the living conditions of so many households.”
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