A green light is being given to measures to help families who find it difficult to pay rent due to the economic crisis resulting from the coronavirus health emergency. The Council of Ministers will approve this today (Tuesday). The suspension for half a year of evictions due to non-payment of income and, in addition, it will launch through the ICO a line of credit, without interest so that these families can pay .
This was confirmed by the Executive, which explain that, in addition to the eviction suspension for six months of for families without a housing alternative (that is, that they would be left without a roof), they will also be extended for six months automatically the rental contracts that end during the state of alarm.
All tenants who are considered vulnerable will have access to 0% interest credits from the ICO, which can be repaid in six or ten years , if the borrower is unable to meet the first term. All persons who have become unemployed or have been affected by an ERTE or a reduction in working hours due to the coronavirus, as well as the self-employed affected by this crisis, will be understood as vulnerable, as long as their monthly income (in all cases) is not more than 1,613 euros per month. This amount will increase if there are dependent children or other dependents.
For those who live and rent in a home owned by what the decree will consider a “great holder”, (property investment companies etc,) the advantages are greater. Fundamentally, companies and investment funds will enter this category. And their tenants, apart from being able to avail themselves of the 0% ICO loans under the same conditions, may (if they are considered vulnerable) either request that the company allow them to pay the debt they accumulate in two or three years, or negotiate a deduction of up to half of this amount.
What if, after ten years, whoever has applied for a loan to the ICO to pay their rent due to the coronavirus crisis still cannot return it? Government sources explain that, in these cases, the State will take over the debt . In this sense, those households that cannot afford to pay the microcredits will have direct aid that can reach a maximum amount of 900 euros per month and up to 100% of the loan signed, and 200 euros per month to meet expenses. maintenance, community and basic supplies.
In addition to the measures on rents, the Government is considering approving in the Council of Ministers this Tuesday, a mortgage moratorium that would apply to commercial premises . What is certain is that it will be approved to include among the essential services of care for victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking.
In addition, hotel accommodation will be made available to victims of sexist violence when they are at risk. And also the green light will be given to the specific help for domestic workers who are fired by the crisis announced a few days ago.
Intense negotiations in the Government
The implementation of measures to help families with difficulties in paying rents has been one of the great points of friction within the Government, and in fact at first some sectors, led by the Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, rejected regulation of this market. The ministers of United Podemos, along with others such as Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, on the contrary, have been some of those who have pushed the most for these measures to be implemented.
The purple formation, led by the second vice president Pablo Iglesias, proposed a suspension in the payment of rents for families harmed in their income by the coronavirus crisis, as well as that the State guaranteed the entire collection of the fee only to the owners with one or two houses for rent. Finally, the Government has not gone that far , although United Podemos sources show their “satisfaction” with the decree that will finally be approved this Tuesday.
The sources of the formation of Churches consulted emphasize that, as United Podemos asked, the regulation will finally make “an express distinction between small owners and investment funds and large homeowners” so that the latter have to assume part of the measurement cost. And they also congratulate themselves for having achieved a “broad” definition of a vulnerable consumer, which in theory will result in a greater number of tenants being able to access ICO loans.
