This Tuesday, the Constitutional Court accepted the constitutional complaints against various provisions of the Housing Act for processing. The Guarantee Authority has summarized the PP’s appeal filed by 50 of its congressmen; that of the Catalan Parliament and that of the autonomous governments of Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and Madrid. The aim of the union is to promote a joint study in order to subsequently develop a common doctrine that will give coherence to the various future resolutions. There is an individual set for each of the challenges.
For example, invoking the unconstitutionality of the PP raises a possible violation of property rights, the right to effective legal protection and local autonomy, similar to the claims of the governments of the above-mentioned autonomous communities, which also defend their competences in this matter. The Catalan Parliament, in turn, emphasizes this point since the contested law could contradict the regulation on the distribution of autonomous powers in matters of spatial planning, urban planning and housing.
The housing law was approved by Congress last April with 176 votes in favor, 167 against and one abstention. The PSOE, Unidas Podemos, ERC, Bildu, Más País, Compromís, PRC and Teruel Exist voted in favor. The BNG abstained from voting and was already of the opinion at the time that the legal text encroached on the powers of the Autonomous Communities. The PP law was opposed by Vox, Ciudadanos and Foro Asturias, as well as by PNV, Junts, PDeCAT, CUP and the Canary Islands Coalition, which also highlighted judicial interference as the law’s main flaw.
The approval to process the complaints lodged against the Housing Act comes after several months of intense controversy over the usefulness of the adopted regulations in facilitating access to housing, curbing rental prices and preventing illegal settlement. Shortly after the law was passed, the PP’s Housing Minister, Ana María Zurita, stated at a conference organized by Esade that it was necessary to repeal the new regulation because it was “harmful” and “carcinogenic.” Zurita added that the approved text is almost an ideological “brochure” that creates legal uncertainty, encroaches on regional powers and harms homeowners.
ERC and Bildu defended in Congress the agreements to adopt the law and the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, and the Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, presented the text. The latter explained that by then housing construction in Spain had simply become a “big business” supported by “electoral consensus” and “speculation”. The Minister of Transport, in turn, explained that the law aims to “promote social cohesion, strive for justice and ensure the right to access to housing”. Sánchez added that the new regulations are necessary to transform a market “too vulnerable to speculative phenomena and blind to the barriers to access to housing for large sectors.”
Given these precedents, sources in the Constitutional Court themselves admit that by admitting the appeals submitted for processing, the court now faces the challenge of calming a debate, namely the question of access to housing, which in the political headquarters highlights the existence of incompatible positions has made . After approval for processing, arguments are asked from the parties and a rapporteur is appointed for each of the challenges raised.
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