Tinagli: “Building isn’t enough. Short-term lettings? The trigger for speculation”

And so, in the huge debate over housing in Europe, it is short-term lettings in particular that have ended up in the dock. It is these short-term lettings that are seen as the catalyst for unchecked speculation, the decline of historic town centres, and housing and even economic crises in various countries.

The issue, which has been at the heart of Spanish politics in recent weeks, was also the focus of the latest plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. There, as has been the case for months, tensions in Spanish politics merged with those at European level, and there, the EU Commissioner for Housing, the Dane Dan Jørgensen, took the floor to present the proposal for the Affordable Housing Act, a bill which, in very theoretical terms, should help to keep rental prices in check in urban centres (where, the Commissioner said, house prices have risen by 60 per cent in 10 years).

Indeed, before Maricarmen Abascal’s eviction caused the issue to go viral and turned it into a central focus of the Spanish election campaign – as well as highlighting the severity of the housing crisis and the shortage of homes in Europe – the Parliament’s Special Committee on Housing, chaired by the Democratic Party MEP Irene Tinagli, had already addressed the matter. She had emphasised that the issue goes beyond the individual circumstances of a single elderly woman, but is a social issue which, over time, becomes a matter of competitiveness (to use a term dear to Ursula von der Leyen).

“Talking about housing,” says Tinagli, “means touching on many sensitive issues in the economy and society. It is not just a question of where to live and how much it costs to build a home. It concerns people’s lives, the jobs they can access, the opportunities they can seize and, consequently, create. Housing,” continues the MEP, “is not just another consumer good. Changing the dynamics of housing means changing a country’s social and economic dynamics: if a city, for example, has large companies or major universities but fails to attract researchers and workers (and then retain them), then the entire ecosystem begins to deflate. There is a risk of draining the productive engine of nations.”

There are many reasons behind the unaffordability of housing and the 60 per cent rise in prices over the past decade, and they are difficult to untangle. But Tinagli identifies the problem as stemming from two ‘original sins’: one in politics, the other in the market itself.

As far as politics is concerned, Tinagli says: “We embraced the new sharing economy platforms with enthusiasm and even a touch of naivety, without realising that they were altering the deep-seated dynamics of our societies. And, above all, without realising that these were ‘back doors’ for the arrival of speculative models that have upset the market balance”. And here lies the second original sin: “Until very recently, it had never happened that the home was used as a means of generating income on such a massive scale. This has disrupted the system and blown a sort of social dam that had held until now.”

But really, then, is the problem solely down to short-term letting platforms? “At least in part, yes. Short-term lettings are fuelling the speculation that is driving residents out of historic town centres and, as a result, eroding their very essence. And in this sense, they should be restricted wherever possible. We are not talking about restricting private property, but about regulating it, so that it does not undermine the social balance of cities and nations. In New York, for example, this has been done.”

However, others, including the European People’s Party, argue that construction should proceed (particularly in light of the Green Home Directive, with all that it entails in terms of costs). “Build, yes, of course. But let’s remember that we are on a continent that already has a high rate of urbanisation and where available land is almost exhausted. Moreover, building alone is not enough. You then need to bring in transport links, services and communities to the places where you’ve built. And none of this happens overnight. It would be better to redevelop what already exists.”

All of these are matters that would require a political commitment – and, horribile dictu, a financial one too – from the EU. But political commitment, in a fragmented Parliament, is hard to come by. As for financial commitment, there is no mention whatsoever of ‘housing’ in the draft EU Budget for 2028–34. “No, there isn’t,” confirms Tinagli. We’re working to carve out some funding from the Competitiveness Fund, but it will be tricky.”