Last April 22, the Community of Madrid presented the new Urgent Measures Law with the objective of increasing the supply of protected housing and shortening construction times, in a context marked by strong demographic growth, sustained with approximately 450,000–500,000 more people annually, driven mainly by immigration.
A strategy to be developed by the Consejería de Vivienda, Transportes e Infraestructuras led by Jorge Rodrigo, and which at this moment, is in parliamentary processing and with which the regional Government plans to promote the construction of more than 18,000 homes in the next four years and structurally reinforce the supply of affordable housing.
The project, driven by the regional Executive and advanced by the president Isabel Díaz Ayuso, is structured as a reform that aims to shorten times, and accelerate the placement of protected housing on the market through greater efficiency in the use of available land.
For this, the standard establishes as a central axis the possibility of increasing the density of plots by 30% and the buildability by 20%, thus allowing a significant increase in the number of homes per development without the need to consume new land. This measure is conceived as a lever to intensify residential development on already urbanized or planned land, optimizing existing building capacity.
Increase the height of buildings
Within this same framework, the text introduces the possibility of increasing the height of buildings by up to two additional floors, without the need to modify urban planning, which will contribute to reducing processing times and accelerating project execution. It will be the municipalities themselves who decide on the application of these measures, which are exceptional and temporary in nature, set at two years for the application of licenses and three years for the execution of works.
The law also incorporates a relevant change in urban administrative management with the introduction of the positive administrative silence. In this way, if sectoral reports are not issued within a period of three months, the procedure may continue automatically, except in cases affecting public domain. To this end, various regional regulations are modified, eliminating the requirement for such reports in the initial phase, although maintaining them as mandatory before final approval. The objective is clear: reduce deadlines and bureaucratic burdens in the development of residential land.
Likewise, said regulation facilitates the processing of territorial plans aimed at identifying new land for housing in the medium and long term, reinforcing the strategic planning of urban growth in the region.
In data
Housing in Madrid
According to data from the Community of Madrid, the main indicators of housing policy in the current legislature are the following:
1️⃣ Public housing in Spain
Madrid concentrates more than 40% of the public housing built in Spain since 2019.
2️⃣ Protected housing in the legislature
70,353 homes with some type of protection have been promoted, of which 26,142 correspond to direct regional promotion.
3️⃣ Regional programs
17,742 homes are part of programs managed directly by the Community of Madrid (AVS, municipal agreements, and European funds).
4️⃣ VIVE Plan and office transformation
The VIVE Plan adds 13,924 affordable rental homes, and the transformation of offices into housing incorporates 8,400 units.
5️⃣ Planning and new law
The Urgent Measures Law foresees 18,000 protected homes in four years and a plan for 280,000–290,000 homes in 15 years.
Change of land uses and buildings
The text also expands the possibilities for changing the use of land and buildings, allowing the construction of affordable housing on private endowment land and hotel-use land, in addition to extending the conversion of offices into residential housing by two additional years.
In parallel, and in a context of high construction costs, the regulation establishes the limitation of one parking space per dwelling, compared to the current requirement of one and a half spaces.
This set of measures is integrated into a housing strategy already underway by the Community of Madrid, based on public-private collaboration, land mobilization, and the streamlining of affordable housing production.
Live Plan
In this area, the Vive Plan has been consolidated as one of the main instruments of execution. Through this program, the Community of Madrid has already delivered 5,363 affordable rental homes in a dozen municipalities, to which another 3,000 are planned to be added in 2026, with the aim of reaching 14,000 homes in this legislature.
Within this deployment, the first 3,352 homes of the Plan Vive Solución Joven have already been awarded, intended for those under 35 years of age, along with another 2,100 homes promoted by the Social Housing Agency (AVS) aimed at families in vulnerable situations.
In addition, this set of actions is completed with specific aid for large and single-parent families, the recovery of rent-to-own, and the reinforcement of the offer in smaller municipalities.
In parallel, this regional announcement coincides in time with the presentation of the new State Housing Plan of the Ministry of Housing, endowed with 7 billion euros for protected housing, although it contemplates that the autonomous communities assume 40% of the financing, a scheme that opens a new scenario of co-responsibility in housing policy between administrations.
Sánchez proposes intervening in rent prices
Also this Tuesday, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, asked to "intervene in markets that do not work", such as the housing rental market, because "where it is not done, prices rise uncontrollably."
Thus Sánchez affirmed in his speech at 'Bloomberg CityLab 2026', a global forum of mayors, where he highlighted that "it is important to apply all the tools we have from the State to be able to face the biggest housing crisis that is being experienced in Spain and, of course, also in Europe as a whole".
The head of the Executive underlined that housing is "the main reason for inequality, at least in Spain". The president added that "more than 60% of inequality in Spain is explained by the impossibility of many of our fellow citizens to access housing. And, Europe, consequently, is experiencing a profound crisis".
In response to the position of the Spanish Executive, the Madrid Minister of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure, Jorge Rodrigo, lashed out at an "interventionist" and "populist" housing policy by Pedro Sánchez's Government and warned of the "defense of expropriation" by his government partners, referring to Sumar and Más Madrid.