Four Spanish NGOs have formed the Alliance for Inclusive Housing and are focusing their attention on the new State Housing Plan [editar]

• The organisations are offering their support to the Spanish Ministry of Housing and the regions to help ensure that the forthcoming State Housing Plan is an effective tool for social inclusion.

On 15 April, the creation of the Alliance for Inclusive Housing was formalised, an alliance spearheaded by Fundación Secretariado Gitano, HOGAR Sí, Plena Inclusión and Provivienda. These four third-sector organisations have extensive experience in supporting individuals and families facing structural barriers to accessing housing and achieving social inclusion.

The alliance was established with the aim of contributing to public debate and to the design and implementation of housing policies, at both national and regional levels, so that these are accessible and inclusive for all citizens, placing particular emphasis on individuals and groups in various situations of vulnerability or exclusion to ensure the equity of housing policies.

The four organisations have agreed to pool their knowledge and experience, exchange insights with other stakeholders, and develop solutions to be incorporated into general policies, capable of addressing specific needs that are currently not adequately met.

Furthermore, the alliance aims to combat stigmatising approaches that hinder access to housing. Research such as the report ¿Se alquila? (Is it available to rent?) by Provivienda, or the annual reports Discrimination and the Roma Community by the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, show that various forms of discrimination remain one of the main barriers to accessing housing.

“Discrimination on the grounds of ethnic or racial origin is a reality that affects many Roma or migrant people when they want to rent a home; it is a structural barrier to accessing housing, which is why it is necessary to establish mechanisms to respond to these situations that guarantee equal access to housing, and the Alliance has proposals in this regard,” says Sara Giménez, Director General of Fundación Secretariado Gitano.

The State Housing Plan, the focus of the alliance

The main driving force behind this Alliance has been the adoption of the new State Housing Plan 2026–2030 (PEV by the Spanish acronym), approved today by the Spanish Council of Ministers, which will mobilise, through the regions, more than €7 billion by 2030.

The four organisations have actively participated in the Plan’s drafting process, making technical contributions to improve it. Following its approval, the alliance will join forces to influence the Plan’s implementation, focusing on those aspects they consider key and which must be reflected in the agreements between the Ministry of Housing and the regions, as well as in the regional programmes to be developed.

Conceptual clarity to be more effective and leave no one behind

One of the alliance’s priority areas of work is the need to establish clear and consistent concepts in housing policies, setting minimum standards, guaranteeing equal treatment and providing legal certainty for actions.

The organisations warn that a lack of clarity, for example in the definition and assessment of vulnerability, has often turned this concept into a catch-all term that leads to inconsistent and exclusionary criteria.

José Manuel Caballol, Director General of HOGAR SÍ, notes: “Social organisations can actively collaborate to ensure the PEV is truly inclusive. We propose that social organisations be empowered to certify situations of vulnerability that grant priority access to PEV measures. This measure has been used successfully in other areas, such as the recent process of regularising migrants or in the processing of the Minimum Income, and ensures efficiency and the ability to reach people disconnected from the public social services system due to their exclusion."

Boosting the stock of social and affordable housing

Another key element for the Plan’s success, according to the alliance, is the decisive expansion of the stock of social and affordable housing. In this regard, the organisations highlight the fundamental role to be played by social housing providers, a role that is recognised for the first time within the framework of the State Plan itself.

The organisations also call for the expansion of the affordable housing stock to explicitly provide for the allocation of housing to organisations with accredited social projects. The sustained rise in rental prices is becoming a critical barrier, not only to extending support to the unmet population, but even to maintaining existing programmes.

The Alliance for Inclusive Housing also emphasises the importance of ensuring the permanent protection of publicly funded housing, preventing it from being removed from the social or affordable housing stock once the minimum legal terms have expired. The organisations warn that, without effective mechanisms for protection, monitoring and reversion, there is a risk of repeating the processes of decapitalisation of the public housing stock already experienced in the past.

"Expanding the social and affordable housing stock is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one. For people facing exclusion to benefit from it, two additional guarantees are needed which the Alliance considers non-negotiable. The first is that an explicit portion of that stock be reserved for organisations managing accredited social inclusion projects. Without this reservation, market competition continues to work against those who need it most. The second is the permanent protection of publicly funded housing: we cannot afford to repeat the decapitalisation of the public housing stock that we have already experienced in the past when protection periods expired,” says Gema Gallardo, co-director of Provivienda.

Housing as a tool for deinstitutionalisation and community living

The alliance also emphasises that access to housing is a central element of the State Strategy for a new model of community care, which recognises housing as a basic condition for guaranteeing care in non-institutionalised settings, respecting personal autonomy and avoiding segregation.

In this regard, the organisations consider it essential that the Plan’s measures specifically address people currently receiving care in programmes, such as those for disability support or resources for the homeless, facilitating real pathways towards an independent life in the community.

Another key aspect is that of slums and segregated enclaves, which the Plan addresses. For these processes to be truly inclusive, the organisations insist on the need to establish protocols for rehousing that include criteria for territorial dispersal and prevent renewed concentration, always guaranteeing the necessary social support in each case to ensure inclusive processes.

"This Plan must incorporate a section of the population traditionally overlooked by housing policies due to the barriers they face to their emancipation, caused by a lack of support, accessibility measures and lifelong support. Indeed, the data show that it is they who suffer most from institutionalisation processes, such as people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A Plan that is sensitive to those with the greatest need for support will be a key indicator for assessing its success," says Enrique Galván, Director of Plena Inclusión.

The four organisations are finalising a joint document of recommendations for the implementation of the State Housing Plan and have already requested a meeting with the Minister for Housing, as the first step in a series of contacts that will also extend to the autonomous communities and the main political parties.

The aim, they conclude, is to help ensure that the new Plan is more effective, inclusive and transformative than the previous one, and that it enables effective progress in guaranteeing the right to housing for everyone, without exception.