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Any citizen can apply for state-subsidised housing, as long as they fulfil the requirements stipulated in the Housing Plan of their Autonomous Region. In order to find out what they are, the best thing to do is to get in touch with your town council which will inform you of the body responsible for this matter. These issues are usually handled by district housing companies. It is also advisable to visit the Housing Department website, where you can find all of the procedures, legislative reforms and allowances, with direct links to the different Spanish regions. Local council websites, through their Town Planning and Housing Departments, also offer the state-subsidised housing allocations and the deadlines for registering to apply for them. Some of these portals allow you to download applications. The customer service telephone number provided by the Housing Department is 900 900 907. 

Housing Plan reform concerning state-subsidised housing

The 2005-2008 Housing Plan is currently in force, which established specific reforms on 11 January 2008, the date on which the cabinet approved the Royal Decree giving the green light to the changes introduced. The main change concerning state-subsidised housing is renting with an option to buy. With this measure, tenants will have the opportunity to purchase the property ten years after it has been built, and tenants who have lived there for at least five years will be given preferential treatment. The reforms aimed at developers are: the reduction of the period required in order to be able to class a property built for the free market as state-subsidised, which is set at one year when it was previously two; and the revaluation of the prices of state-subsidised properties, properties governed by the special system and properties with an approved price. The government has established a 4.12% increase of the basic price of the state-subsidised housing unit, such that one metre squared is valued at 758 euros (30 euros more than prior to the reform). The objective of this price review is to boost the construction of social housing, so that average-income families (up to 6.5 times the IPREM (a public income indicator), 3.316 euros per month per home) can access approved price properties, and lower income families (less than 2.5 times the IPREM, 1,273 euros per month per home) can access properties governed by the special system. The interest rate for the loans granted increases from 4.35% to 5.09% and the repayment period is increased to more than 25 years.

Allowances for young people

Young people, who are in the 20-35 years age group (although in some autonomous region it extends to 36 year olds), will find all of the information concerning applying for state-subsidised housing, as well as everything related to housing in general (renting and buying) on the website www.ayudasviviendajoven.es, a very useful portal launched by the Spanish Youth Council and funded by the Housing Department. It features all of the dates and allowances for housing applications, as well as official announcements about future promotions published by councils, autonomous regions and the government. 

There is a section where you can register, through which you can make all sorts of enquiries, by e-mail, as well as receiving alerts about any news from the institutions or builders and developers on your mobile telephone. The portal releases highly useful monthly newsletters. The most recent have been about “Mortgages” and “Access to state-subsidised housing”. The content is written in language that is clear and easy to understand, and the newsletters can be downloaded and printed. The portal has a very useful search tool to find out about dates and allowances, future promotions, housing information centres, legislation and housing rulings in all Spanish provinces and districts. 

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