Catalonia's social rights minister, Violant Cervera, has announced the opening of a new line of rental assistance for young people who could not access the Spanish government's Bono Alquiler Joven scheme, to whom the Catalan authorities will allocate 29 million euros, a sum which will allow an estimated 14,000 young people to benefit. In an interview with Europa Press, the minister stated that the state bond generated significant expectations but that there was a "lack of resources" to respond to all the requests for help: in Catalonia more than 38,000 requests for the rental subsidy were submitted and only 9,666 were granted.
Cervera complained that, despite being a good measure, the state rent bond "was not well dimensioned economically or territorially", with the same aid, 250 euros a month, offered regardless of the place of residence and conceded according to the date on which the request was received. The minister said that in the face of this situation of need and the fact that it has fallen "short", the Generalitat of Catalonia has decided to open a new line of assistance, the full details of which will be published at the end of September, with the aim of assisting the young people who missed out with on the Spanish state bond.
"Correcting shortcomings" of Spanish scheme
Cervera says that these new grants, with funds from the Generalitat, want to "correct the shortcomings" that critics pointed out in state youth bond: they will be allocated through a competitive process, the amount granted to each beneficiary will vary and the criteria will prioritize both income and location factors. The grants, which will be annual, will be for young people up to 35 years of age and will have a maximum limit of 250 euros per month, subject to their income and the price of their rent. Violant Cervera estimated that 20% of the 38,000 requests for the state youth rental scheme did not meet the requirements, and remarked that she is confident that the Catalan government's new line of assistance could reach "14,000 to 15,000 people".
Housing "deficit"
The minister has admitted that there is a "significant deficit" in the social housing stock in Catalonia, especially in rental housing, and expressed confidence that European funds will help in the medium and long term with housing rehabilitation and allow the construction of around 4,000 social rental homes, commenting remarked that since 2015 the government has bought more than 3,000 homes by right of first refusal and pre-emptive rights. Cervera also insisted on the request to the Spanish government for the transfer of apartments acquired by Sareb, the Spanish state's so-called "bad bank", which acquired assets from financial institutions nationalised during the financial crisis that began in 2008.
The minister argued that the Generalitat helped more than 60,000 families in 2021 to pay their rent through the Catalan Housing Agency, whose social policy programme has been allocated a budget of 140 million euros. In response to criticisms made by the Barcelona city council over its 'Reallotgem' housing programme - claiming that its budget should be allocated to other measures that, according to the municipal authorities, work better - Cervera said that the programme is "one further tool" to cope with the problem of housing, noting that it was odd that the plan does not work in Barcelona but does in other cities. She encouraged the city council to "sit down so we can work together" on housing policies, and reminded them that they are the responsibility of the Catalan government and councils, stressing the need to find formulas to work together.