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Europe: The mayors of Madrid and Barcelona debated solutions for the affordability housing crisis in the European Parliament this week, as the European Union seeks to drive greater transparency and help local authorities with targeted, balanced regulations as part of new short-term rental rules.
José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the centre-right mayor of Madrid [of the conservative party – Partido Popular – PP], called for an increase in supply by encouraging the construction of more new housing in Spain’s capital.
He said: “Housing can be solved by increasing supply and therefore by generating more land on which to build,” said Martínez-Almeida.
Martínez-Almeida is also advocating for greater “legal certainty” for landlords and tenants to prevent “illegal occupation”, and wants to build more social housing while also creating a “distinction” between social housing and affordable housing.
In November, Madrid City Council unveiled plans to restrict short-term holiday rentals in its historic centre, as part of a Special Plan for the Protection of the Residential Area – or Plan Reside. The plan, introduced by Martínez-Almeida and urban planning delegate Borja Carabante, replaces a previous plan implemented back in 2019.
The plan involves banning short-term tourist apartments [Viviendas Uso Turístico – VUTs] from all residential buildings in the historic centre – a measure aiming at prioritising the preservation of residential spaces. VUTs will now only be allowed in Madrid if they are in entire buildings dedicated solely to tourist accommodation in the historic centre, if they are existing licensed rentals, or if they are located outside of the historic centre and have their own separate entrance.
Buildings that are not designated as residential, including commercial buildings and hotels, can be converted for tourism purposes if they do not impact on housing supply, according to the city council.
However, the conversion of any commercial properties that are designated for residential purposes will be forbidden from conversion into tourist rentals in the historic centre.
Meanwhile, in Barcelona, mayor Jaume Collboni, of the Party of Socialists of Catalonia, wants to extend rent caps not just to densely populated areas of the city but also to the short-term rental segment.
Collboni said: “The problem we currently have in many European cities is that there is a conflict between the right to housing and the right to the economic or touristic use of this housing. In Barcelona, we have chosen to defend the right of access to housing as opposed to the use of accommodation for tourism.”
The Barcelona mayor is also behind a letter addressed to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, which has also been co-signed by an alliance of ten European cities including Rome and Amsterdam, calling to be at the forefront of housing policy and to directly manage the allocation of funds across the bloc.
Collboni is proposing a ban on all short-term rentals for tourists in Barcelona by late 2028, a measure which short-term rental groups and booking platforms are urging him to reconsider.
It comes as the new European Commission, which only started its term in December, has appointed a Commissioner to oversee housing for the first time. Dan Jørgensen, the Commissioner for Energy and Housing, is expected to devise a proposal on affordable housing solutions in the coming months.
Earlier this week, Airbnb met with the European Commission’s new Housing Taskforce to discuss the role of short-term rentals in Europe and how the home-sharing company can be a “constructive” partner for the Taskforce.
Recent data released by Oxford Economics, which was cited by Airbnb, shows that STRs contributed €149 billion to EU GDP in 2023 and that Airbnb listings constitute 0.5 per cent or less of the housing stock in major EU cities.
It adds that blanket STR restrictions often fail to solve local issues, while undermining the ability of hosts and guests to benefit from home-sharing. In Barcelona, it said that rents had risen by 70 per cent and that the average price of a home has increased by 60 per cent since the clampdown on STRs began in 2014.
