The PPdeG has voted against a legislative initiative by the BNG that proposed to amend the Galician tourism law in order to regulate tourist use housing (VUT). The nationalist proposal focused on "avoiding the flight of housing from the residential stock" towards tourist rentals and on "protecting the social function of housing", but the popular party replied that this reform would not help to order the market, but rather to "paralyze it".
In the presentation of the initiative, the BNG deputy Saleta Chao criticized the "ineffectiveness" of the Xunta's strategy in recent years on this matter, which, in her opinion, is aimed at "dismantling public housing policy".
After providing various data on the rental market situation in Galicia, the Bloc parliamentarian indicated that, according to figures from the Xunta itself, there are currently "12,800 fewer homes in the last five years" available for long-term rentals.
In this context, she emphasized that the statistics from the municipalities and areas with the highest concentration of tourist use housing, including Santiago, Sanxenxo, Barreiros, and Carnota, make the "paralysis and dereliction of duty" of the regional Executive "incomprehensible".
"Galicia cannot continue looking the other way," stated Saleta Chao, who cited the measures of the Santiago City Council as a reference, "the only Galician city where tourist use housing is decreasing," despite, she added, "the inaction of the Xunta."
Conditions proposed by the BNG for VUTs
In her speech, the deputy detailed that the legislative modification promoted by the Bloc includes requiring a prior urban planning license for VUTs, with a validity of five years and the possibility of extension if the initial conditions are maintained; obliging the Xunta to carry out a prior study on the concentration of VUTs; elaborating a map by zones; identifying which individuals or legal entities own or manage these homes, with special attention to investment groups; and promoting an initiative by the Xunta itself to declare areas of the tense residential market.
Support from the PSdeG and criticism of the "law of the jungle"
On the other hand, the PSdeG deputy Aitor Bouza announced his group's support for the processing of the proposal with the aim of debating it and seeking agreements in Parliament, defending the need for regulation against the "law of the jungle".
In this regard, he has once again censured that "tourist apartments that do not comply with the municipal regulations of each town hall" are allowed to be registered with the Xunta, insisting that this practice "directly attacks municipal autonomy".
"The common element of this modification is that it be done clearly and directly so that no apartment that does not have all the urban planning regulations can be registered," Bouza has maintained, before going on to criticize the Xunta for "the only thing it contributes" being "reproaches and passing the buck".
The PPdeG defends that VUTs are "stagnant"
On behalf of the PPdeG, Moisés Rodríguez has argued that the number of tourist apartments in Galicia is "stagnant", and therefore has defended that the regional government "does not need lessons" in this matter.
Furthermore, he has invited the Bloque to go out into the street and "review the profile of VUT owners". "You would be surprised," he warned, suggesting that they do not always fit the profile of large investment funds.
At the same time, he has stressed that the Popular Party "does not deny the need for regulation", but "not for paralysis", and has underlined that "the housing problem" does not respond "to a single cause", and therefore "does not admit a single solution".
"We believe in a Galicia with more housing, we believe in legal certainty, not in simplistic discourse," Rodríguez has stated, before advocating for "sustainable tourism": "We want both, more housing and better tourism".
Final response from the BNG and criticism of the REAT
In her turn to reply, Saleta Chao has rejected that VUTs are "stagnant" and has recalled that the Xunta was forced to de-register 2,800 registrations that did not comply with the regulations before the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
Likewise, she has reproached the PPdeG for its defense of the regional administration's Registry of Tourist Activity Companies (REAT), which, she has assured, the Galician government designed to "justify the free-for-all of VUTs". "12,800 homes moved from the residential market to tourism, does that create tension or not?", the BNG deputy has asked, insisting on the impact of this phenomenon on access to housing in Galicia.