Dimitris Kouimtsidis
A NEW ministerial order has been passed by the Ministry of Development allowing regional governments to force private landlords to rent out empty homes.
This would be done to help victims of domestic violence, those who have lost their homes, the homeless and other vulnerable people.
Regions have to make available ‘publicly owned housing’ for these people.
However, when that is not available, ‘the aid may be applied to privately owned housing.’
Governmental sources according to Vozpopuli acknowledge that it empowers administrations to directly contact owners to make homes available to these ‘especially vulnerable people’.
The landlords would then collect the aid that the governments would be giving these people as a form of rent payment.
These are grants of ‘up to €600 per month and up to 100% of the rent or occupancy price of the established property’, which in some cases can be raised to €900.
This comes after the municipal government in Barcelona expropriated an empty house for the first time in June 2019 from a bank, which it compensated with the amount of €10,000 for a period of 10 years, according to El Pais.
