Housing Advocacy Groups Prepare for General Strike as Tenant Movements Intensify

• Tenant unions are organizing for a general strike on housing to challenge market imbalances and the current "rentier" power structure.
• Statistical data highlights deep economic inequality: the median income for households that rent out multiple properties is over €80,000, compared to approximately €21,000 for tenant households.
• In the Basque Country (Euskal Herria), public housing efforts provide a minor buffer, yet the social rental stock remains at only 3.4% of primary housing, far below the EU average of 9%.
• Despite claims from the political right, judicial data shows that evictions for non-payment vastly outnumber cases of illegal squatting.

The Property Structure

• Research indicates that while small-scale landlords (often owning one property) dominate the market, significant concentration exists in urban areas like San Sebastián and Pamplona.
• The reliance on individual owners masks the systemic issues caused by large investors and firms in specific municipalities, where they control up to 20% of rental units.

Long-Term Challenges

• Expanding public housing is a slow, complex process requiring long-term state commitment, land acquisition, and multi-year construction cycles.
• Relying solely on increasing private housing supply has historically led to market bubbles rather than immediate relief for vulnerable populations.

Moving Forward

• The article argues against focusing on single-policy solutions, calling instead for a combination of rent regulation, legal frameworks for vacant properties, and public procurement.
• Collective movement-building is presented as the only viable long-term strategy to transform individual crises of precariousness into organized, institutional pressure.