The Spanish government will pay 250 euros (about $284) a month to low-income young people to help them cut the umbilical cord in a country where more and more young adults are living with their parents because they can’t afford rent.
The Minister of Housing, Rachel Sanchez, said at a press conference on Tuesday that, starting this month, Spaniards under the age of 35 and with annual incomes of less than 24,318 euros will be able to apply for the monthly subsidy to rent a flat for two years.
“There is no ideology to hide behind when it comes to meeting the needs of citizens in compromised situations, to help young people who want to start their lives. Allocating resources to housing means allocating them to inclusion and equality,” said Sánchez.
Spain has one of the highest percentages in Europe of young people living with their parents, with up to 55% of those aged 25 to 29 in 2020, according to the latest official data, which is an increase of 6.5 percentage points compared with 2013.
That figure is strongly correlated with endemically high youth unemployment in Spain, where 29% of those under 25 are registered as unemployed.
However, direct subsidies to pay rents may be less effective than the Government expects, since the increase in demand for small apartments could raise prices, according to Francisco Iñareta, spokesman for Idealista, the largest website country real estate.
“Direct aid, and this is something that previous experiences have shown us, has as its main consequence the direct increase in prices and the generation of serious discrimination against tenants with salaries slightly higher than these, who will have to increase their efforts by a price rise scenario,” he said.
