Young Spanish offered money to fly the nest

Spain’s struggling twentysomethings are to receive cash handouts to help them to move out of their parents’ homes.
In an attempt to tackle a big housing crisis – and capture young voters – the Socialist Government is to offer €210 (£150) a month to those aged 22 to 30 whose salary is less than €22,000.
The move comes after a ten-year housing boom that has sent property prices rocketing by 150 per cent and left thousands of young Spaniards unable to afford soaring rents. Many are living with their parents until well into their thirties.
Prices have been pushed up partly by the voracious appetite of British investors and holiday-home buyers to snap up villas in the Spanish sun. In a series of mass demonstrations across the country over three years, thousands of low-income Spaniards have demanded more affordable housing.
With six months to go before the general election next March, cheaper housing will be a significant issue for all parties.
With his eye on the youth vote, José Luis RodrÍguez Zapatero, the Prime Minister, unveiled a Bill to help young people to pay for their own accommodation. The grants will run for four years and renters can also qualify for a one-off payment of €600 (£420) towards their deposit.
When the scheme starts in January, about 180,500 people will benefit from it at a cost to the Government of €436 million. The Government also plans to allow renters whose annual incomes are less than €24,000 to benefit from tax cuts as property buyers from January, a measure that will cost €348 million in lower tax receipts.
Mr Zapatero called the plan the “emancipation of the youth” and claimed that eight out of ten young Spaniards earned less than €22,000 and would benefit from the payouts. He added: “You know that for many Spaniards housing is one of their main problems. I think today we are taking a big step in the right direction.”
The conservative opposition Popular Party attacked the plan as blatant electioneering. Eduardo Zaplana, a spokesman, said that the Socialists had failed to deliver on previous plans to build 180,000 subsidised housing units and had not honoured promises to make it more attractive for landlords to rent out many thousands of unoccupied properties. He said: “How can the Prime Minister do this after the housing issue was so important in their earlier programme and they have not fulfilled anything at all?”
Just as for many Britons, a Spaniard’s home is his castilla, so owning one is many people’s dream. Many are so desperate to get on to the property ladder that they have taken out mortgages for their whole lives. Most do not want to pay rents, which have been on the rise for a decade.
Average rents in Spain are only €720 a month, but in Madrid, Barcelona and San Sebastián landlords can charge almost double. In the capital the average rent is €1,138.
Staying put
— Less than a third of Spaniards between the ages of 25 and 30 had left home in 2001, compared with more than half in 1977
— An estimated 10 per cent of Scandinavians aged 18-34 live with their parents
— In northern Europe the overall figure is somewhere between 15 and 30 per cent
— In southern Europe it stands at approximately 60 per cent
Sources: Network on Transitions to Adulthood; eurofound.europa.eu; Times archives