The Municipal Urban Agenda Company has received 512 applications for the Youth Rental Voucher in the city of Lleida, according to the data provided on the call. Of the total, 455 have been processed electronically and 57 in person. To this figure, applications registered by young people from all the Lleida regions will have to be added.
The aid consists of 250 euros per month for people who live in rented housing or in a room. Among the requirements set to access the bonus is being a maximum of 35 years old at the time of submitting the application, being registered in the rented property, not owing any monthly payment, and not exceeding an annual income of 25,200 euros.
A cap is also set on the rent price. The rent cannot exceed 600 euros per month in the case of a dwelling and 300 euros if it is a room.
Two years of limits on rent in tensioned municipalities
Yesterday marked two years since the entry into force of the rental price limitation in 140 municipalities with a strained residential market. Among them are about twenty municipalities in Lleida.
From the Lleida Housing Union, its spokesperson, Adrià Cluet, maintains that the measure has not resolved the problem of access to housing.
"Prices were frozen when they were higher, so that, instead of being a solution, they have made the problem chronic" - Adrià Cluet, spokesperson of the Syndicate of Housing of Lleida
Cluet adds that many owners evade rental limits by opting to rent rooms separately instead of the complete apartment.
The real estate sector warns of less supply
From the Real Estate Agents, its president, Josep Maria Esteve, assures that in Lleida indexed rents and previous ones are very similar. He also points out that in towns like Soses or Raimat these municipalities have been included in the list of stressed areas, although without a reference price due to the lack of market samples.
Esteve believes that the limitation of the rental price, added to that of seasonal and by-room rentals, is causing a decrease in the stock of flats. Furthermore, he warns of a possible shortage of available housing by the month of June, when university students start looking for a flat for the next academic year.
Along the same lines, a real estate portal confirms an exodus of rental supply. The Union of Property Owners of Catalonia, Somos Vivienda, considers the law on seasonal and room rentals unconstitutional.