Help with housing

Santa Pola’s housing and mediation office has revealed details about all of its actions and cases it dealt with in 2018, which amounted to a total of 709. Office manager Gema Asencio said the new rental law comes into force in 2019, for which they will put on a public talk to explain it. She admitted Santa Pola is also experiencing the problem of rising rents, and said the town hall will use the legislation to try and keep prices at a reasonable level. Another problem, she noted, is that banks are selling many of the homes they own in the municipality to ‘vulture’ investment funds. “Negotiation and mediation (with investment funds) is not the same,” she said, indicating that it is also hard work with SAREB, the government’s so called ‘bad bank’. By the end of 2018, the office had suspended 71 evictions, found 62 social housing rentals, negotiated 24 moratoriums and 22 dation in payments (cancellation of mortgage after repossession), and mediated 52 times. It had also referred 90 cases to social services, and many other actions. Furthermore, the office helped to process 126 applications for social housing and arranged for six homeowners to sell their properties to the regional housing department. The new law provides local authorities with more tools to find rental accommodation for residents. This will enable a campaign this year to determine which homes are empty so the office can negotiate affordable rents.