The clash in the Government between the PSOE and Sumar over the measures to face the housing crisis dominated the headlines after the extraordinary Council of Ministers two Fridays ago.
And, paradoxically, among the long list of measures contained in the other decree-law, the DL 7/2026 with the economic response to the Iran war, the Government included a specific one regarding housing that has gone practically unnoticed.
It is a reform of the Public Sector Contracts Law that will allow Casa 47 and the rest of public administrations to streamline the processing of social housing developments or at affordable prices and to make bidding conditions more flexible.
Specifically, it regulates specific exceptions for concessions for construction or rehabilitation of publicly owned land or properties and have the aforementioned purposes.
Longer contracts (and with greater return)
Among other measures, the reform extends the maximum duration of contracts to eighty years. The Public Sector Contracts Law foresees a series of maximum concession terms, which in most cases is 40 years, extendable by 15% in certain circumstances. A limitation that was contemplated to avoid such prolonged service privatizations.
However, the Ministry justifies doubling the deadline to facilitate the participation of private developers in affordable housing projects, since otherwise the return on investment would be compromised by the prices at which the housing is intended to be offered.
It is not the only measure planned to attract private investors. Housing proposes a return rate higher than that foreseen in the De-indexation Law, with a differential that doubles the current one on the yields of the ten-year bond (400 points compared to the 200 that the law includes for other contracts).
More streamlined processing and administrative facilities
Other measures seek to streamline procedures. For example, exempting promotions and administrations from the preparation of the preliminary draft for construction and operation and the project for the work. These procedures require public information processes of at least one month and the submission of a report, budget, and a study for the use and operation of the works.
Also it is exempt from the reports of the National Evaluation Office nor of the Superior Committee for State Contract Prices when preparing the feasibility study, which is also ‘lightened’ in the reform.
It will not be the contracting body that will be in charge of the health and safety studies, nor evaluate the operational risks of the construction, but rather it will be the responsibility of the successful bidder. And it will not be necessary to calculate the minimum profit threshold nor the distribution of relevant risks in the administrative clauses.
Finally, Housing facilitates the assignment of operating contracts, which may be carried out without the need to have executed 20% of the work.
‘Resurrected’ of the first repealed omnibus
It is not the first time that the Executive tries to promote this measure. In fact, it promoted it in the first omnibus decree-law (DL-9/2024) that Congress repealed in January of last year. The Government did not include it in its second attempt but it did in the bill registered by the PSOE with fiscal measures regarding housing.
Taking advantage of the consensus generated with the emergency measures –fundamentally tax cuts, but also many structural measures in the energy sector--, the Ministry of Housing has ‘slipped in’ the reform again.
And it does so, precisely, on the eve of the new State Housing Plan, with which the Executive seeks to accelerate the construction of protected or affordable housing in collaboration with the autonomous communities. Although the Ministry's intention was to approve its regulation before Easter, it will have to wait until April to submit it to the Council of Ministers. The Council of State did not give ‘green light’ to its processing until last week.