The dispute between PSOE and PP prevents the promotion of new housing from being expedited

Even though the reform of the Land Law was brought in by the PNV and the PSOE appealed to the PP not to miss the second opportunity to approve a modification that, according to its defenders, would speed up the promotion of housing and offer more legal security to developers, Congress rejected the proposal on Tuesday, which will not even begin the parliamentary process. Thus, a proposal very similar to the one that the Government withdrew at the last minute in May of last year, seeing that it did not have sufficient support, has failed again.

The Land Law that failed in the vote on Tuesday was supported by the Ministry of Housing. The Basque group's bill proposed that the nullity of an urban development plan due to formal or procedural defects could only be declared when the body was "manifestly incompetent", due to a "total or absolute lack of knowledge of the procedure" and due to the omission of the environmental or public information process. In other words, the law limited the suspension of urban development plans to extreme cases and prevented a partial challenge from blocking the plan as a whole. The objective was, in any case, to speed up the promotion of new housing.

“Those who are affected are those who opt for affordable housing,” laments the president of the developers

The approval of a Land Law is an initiative that real estate developers have been demanding for years. Private developers and builders have repeatedly expressed the need to introduce a law that would put an end to a historical problem in the sector. The local councils, through the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), have also expressed their support for the law.

The president of the employers' association of developers (APCE), Xavier Vilajoana, warned La Vanguardia on Tuesday that this blockage affects private and public land. In other words, "it harms those who want to opt for affordable housing, since all the plans have reserves for these properties," he added. The sector again called for a minimum consensus. "Stop playing politics on such a technical issue and stop looking for votes, everyone, on the issue of housing; we have an issue that is too serious to be included in the game of politics," Vilajoana lamented.

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In any case, the gap between the PSOE and the parties to its left was once again evident in the House of Commons, and not even Sumar supported the initiative, considering that what Spain needs is not to build more but laws that regulate tourist housing, empty or in the hands of large funds. Podemos, Bildu and ERC insisted on similar arguments, while Junts distanced itself, without going into the substance, considering that it is an invasion of powers.

Both Vox and the PP turned to young parliamentarians to denounce the “need for housing”, but if the far-right MP welcomed an initiative that is still “late”, the Popular Party member did not give up and defended the comprehensive plan that the PP is preparing to approve in the Senate, which involves changes to six laws, against the “patches” of the Executive and its partners.