The “impossible” task of young Spaniards to obtain a house “Diario La Capital de Mar del Plata

By Macarena Soto

MADRID, Spain.- Amparo spends more than half of his salary in Bilbao to pay rent, Oriol was “lucky” to find an apartment at a “reasonable” price before Barcelona started to get more expensive and Omar came to move from Lima to Madrid, where the “impossible” task of finding a home began three months ago.

According to different studies, Spaniards spend more than what is recommended to pay for their house (no more than 30% of the salary), which together with the youth unemployment rate (38.8% among those under 25), urged the government to launch a law to regulate the market, an initiative that young people appreciate positively but continue to see insufficient.

The measure, which is still under development, will create a young rental voucher of 250 euros per month for young people aged 18 to 35 whose salary is less than 23,725 euros and opens the door to a price limitation in the “stressed” areas.

“The isolated measure looks good to me because it’s money we need to pay the rent, but I don’t think that will solve the problem, the prices are way above what we would have to pay with it. the salaries we have, ”Oriol Morales told EFE.

Wages through the floor, rents through the roof

Oriol is a playwright but he has worked for years in a large warehouse of books, music and technology to be able to have a salary and a wage bill, conditions without which it is very difficult to rent an apartment in Spain.

“All the decisions you have to make in your life are conditioned? Being able to live in the city where you want and it is impossible to find a job with a normal salary to be able to become independent,” he says.

This Barcelonan shares an apartment in the popular district of Sants and ensures that access to quality housing has become a “constant” concern, as also believes Amparo García, who after five years of sharing an apartment with others, just moved in. alone.

“In Bilbao the rents for a house are around 800 or 900 euros, with the salary that there is, you have to share an apartment, there is no other way”, this young woman of 26 years who works in the trade sector. explains to EFE.

Emancipation, an oasis

At the end of 2020, only 15.8% of young people between 16 and 29 were emancipated, the worst figure since 1999 according to data from the Spanish Youth Council (CJE).

For Amparo, the difficulty of accessing housing is a reality that must be addressed “in a way” because “otherwise, young people will never leave their parents’ house”: “it is not that young people do not want not become self-employed, is that people do not have the money to leave their homes even if they have a job, it is not possible ”.

This neighbor from Bilbao recalls that the tables have changed compared to her parents’ generation, where “the people who rented were the few”, while “now it’s the opposite, the rare person is the one who buys the house. because the rest cannot ”.

Suppose the situation does not change in the medium term: “the payroll arrives at the bank and immediately afterwards it goes to rent, just as I would like to put money aside each month to save, I have to put it aside. aside to pay the rent because it’s the number one priority ”.

Economic and social discrimination against foreigners

Omar Callegari has only been in Madrid for a week, he has just moved from his native Lima, where “three months ago” he started looking for a house to rent with friends.

“It is very difficult, because more than finding an apartment that there is, it is the difficulties that they put me: to be a student, they already make it very difficult for me, because I am not Spanish, they make it even harder for me and I don’t have approval or someone who can support me, ”he tells EFE.

This 29-year-old was asked “six months rent in advance” and despite the few days he spent in Spain, he already considers that the government “should take measures in this matter” so that they also take the situation into consideration. from abroad.

“We come from abroad and we feel completely isolated for all kinds of help, I have friends who have lived here for years and they can’t do it, they can only rent rooms”, deplores- he does.

EFE.