Four Catalan Universities Criticize Housing Decree Overload
Four Barcelona-area universities say a run of housing decrees has left Catalonia's legal system hard to follow, days before a Congress vote.
Four universities in Catalonia say the steady stream of housing decrees is making the rules hard to follow, even for people who work with them. Researchers from the University of Barcelona (UB), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) spoke at a press conference on Monday, according to the Catalan newspaper Ara.
They did so a few days before Congress, the lower house of Spain’s parliament, votes on the Spanish government’s housing decrees. A general strike over housing and wages is also approaching.
Who is speaking and why they say they are neutral
The four universities belong to the Barcelona Housing Studies Chair (CBEH), a body that brings together some seventy researchers in law, economics and architecture. Its stated purpose is to supply administrations and governments with rigorous knowledge on housing.
Juli Ponce Solé, a doctor of law at the UB, said the chair has no conflict of interest because, unlike much other research, it receives no money from professional associations or companies. According to Ponce, its funding comes from public administrations, and its researchers are guaranteed academic freedom. The representatives added that a great deal of housing research already exists and that the Barcelona chair is the largest in the European network.
A legal system few people can map
The project coordinators criticized what they called a continuous run of decree laws (laws a government approves by its own order, without a prior parliamentary vote) meant to solve the housing problem. Ponce accepted that housing is the main concern of Catalans, which in his view confirms the matter is urgent. He added that the problem has existed for decades.
His verdict on the current rules was blunt. He described “an internal explosion” of the legal system and said few people in Catalonia, public employees and professors included, know which rules now apply. That, he said, creates serious legal insecurity. He called the result low-quality overregulation.
Why it matters
For renters, landlords and anyone buying or selling a home in Catalonia, the rules in force depend on a layered set of decrees. The university researchers say even professionals struggle to state those rules with confidence. A resident dealing with a lease or a purchase therefore works inside a body of law that its own specialists describe as unclear.
David Hernández Falagán, a professor of Architecture at the UPC, raised a second problem. Housing policies need continuity to have an effect, he said, yet administrations keep changing. New people arrive every little while and interests shift, which he called a structural difficulty.
What to watch next
Congress votes on the Spanish government’s housing decrees within days, and the general strike for housing and wages follows close behind. Readers with a lease or a home purchase in progress can follow the vote, since the outcome decides which decrees stay in force.
Source: Ara
