UN: Madrid must cap rents or break the law

Koldo Casla, the new United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, has a clear warning for Madrid. He expects the city to comply with Spanish law and implement rent controls. If it does not, Spain risks violating its international treaty obligations. Casla, a Basque researcher based in London, took up his UN post in May. He is a professor of international human rights law at the University of Essex. His role includes handling individual complaints against states. One such case involves Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman facing eviction in Madrid. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has issued a precautionary measure asking Spain to stop the eviction. Casla says that if Spain proceeds, it will violate the treaty. “Yes, it would be a violation of the treaty,” Casla told elDiario.es. “Spain has the obligation to comply in good faith.” Spain receives 90% of all housing complaints submitted to the UN committee. It is one of only 25 countries that have accepted the committee’s jurisdiction, which is optional. Spain’s housing problem is deep, Casla explains. The country has only 2% to 3% public housing. In the UK, that figure is 17%. In the Netherlands, it is 32%. In Austria, 23%. “Spain is at the back of the line in Europe,” he says. He blames decades of policy that turned public housing into private property. “We have lost an indispensable public resource.” Casla supports the idea that public housing must remain protected forever. “We must think of housing like health or education,” he says. “We accept public hospitals and schools. We should accept public housing.” On rent control, Casla is direct. “Price control is a legitimate public policy,” he says. “It is an intrusion into private property, but it is a legitimate one.” He points to Navarra, a region in northern Spain, where rent caps reduced prices by 7% in one year. Casla also warns against speculation. He respects a family investing in a home for their children, he says. But the problem is when people or funds buy housing only to speculate. “The main targets must be those who can manipulate the market in a neighborhood or a city.” He notes that corporate landlords, like socimis (real estate investment trusts), are growing in Spain. He points to Copenhagen, which has strong regulation and even an “anti-Blackstone” law to stop speculation. Casla says Spain has a long way to go. Building public housing takes time. Vienna took almost a century. But he says Spain can also share its own innovations, such as the concept of “large landlords” that it introduced into the policy debate. The new UN rapporteur plans to focus on climate change in his country visits. He is especially interested in small island nations like Jamaica and the Maldives. But his immediate message is for Madrid: implement the law, cap the rents, and stop the eviction of Maricarmen.