Squatted homes: small owners say Spain ignores them
Five years of monthly requests, no meeting: a group representing owners affected by squatted homes says Spain’s housing ministry keeps shutting them out. The Platform for People Affected by Squatting and Inquiocupación makes the complaint in Madrid on Monday, 19 October. It says the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda has not granted any of its requests for a meeting.
The group says it has applied through official channels since October 2021. It wrote directly to housing minister Isabel Rodríguez on 23 November 2023, after she took office, citing her promise to include small property owners in discussions. Its latest urgent request, filed on 2 October as government housing decrees were defeated in the Congress of Deputies, also went unanswered, it says.
The group disputes Rodríguez’s claim that her housing measures have broad support. Its spokesman, Ricardo Bravo, says the ministry has pushed squatting and inquiocupación off its agenda, despite what he describes as legal uncertainty holding back the rental market. The platform also claims government housing decrees make squatting in properties owned by large landlords legal again, help criminal gangs profit and leave neighbours unprotected.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com