- Navarros groups working in the field of poverty and social exclusion have denounced that the Housing Act being drafted by the Government of Navarra is sold in titles as a revolutionary, but that its small print is very different.
The collectives have pointed out that the free market has assumed the price of housing, “more and more those who have turned the right into a business.” And in order to denounce it and demand the modification of the content of the new law, the Parliament of Navarre has made its position known to the Parliament in Pamplona/Iruña.
According to the AROPE study, which measures the rates of poverty and social exclusion, 11.4% of the people surveyed in Navarra were unable to pay for housing expenses and supply bills, according to the document submitted to the editor.
They have highlighted a number of points that concern them in the law. On the one hand, the public property of public housing parks under official protection, despite their supposed commitment to remain indefinite, as a consequence of the proposal of law, denounce the entry into the market of this type of housing after 21 years and the loss of public qualification. In his view, it is significant that, over the past three decades, 29,000 protected housing units have moved to the free market.
The importance of registration
On the other hand, the Sustainable Rent Index is also mentioned: “The one that calculates the percentage of the rent that the neighbors in a given place use to pay the rent. This tool can be useful for regulating and reducing the excessive prices of the free market, but if it is not updated each year on the basis of prices and wages, it will be sterile.” In his view, many of the subsidies are not adapted to the real situations of the people who suffer the greatest disadvantages, “and the money ends up in the hands of small tenants, banks or vulture funds.”
Finally, they have referred to the importance of registration in society to access services and have pointed out that “if the law advances, people in an irregular administrative situation will not be able to access the protected housing register or the aids David-Emanzipa”.
The groups consider that this law is not enough to guarantee housing and, therefore, require that minimum standards such as the final qualification of official housing, the expansion of the public housing stock and the guarantee of registration be complied with.
Among the signatories are: hARITU Elkarlaguntza Sarea, Pah-hut Nafarroa, Tuesday in the Sun, PARIS 365, Jaki Toki, Txantrea Asanblada Okupa, Red Navarra against Poverty and Social Exclusion, and SOS Racism.