- The requests increased by 42% last year due to the extension of the beneficiary group and the management improvements
- Nearly 2,000 families are already assigned a home and 1,767 have signed the contracts
The Social Housing Fund (FSV) has received 3,507 applications since its establishment in 2013 until the end of 2014, with an increase last year of 42%. This increase responds to the fact that a greater number of families can take refuge in the FSV after the successive extensions of the requirements. There have also been improvements in management and greater knowledge by potential beneficiaries; that is, those most affected by the crisis and who cannot cope with the payment of the mortgage.
The FSV was created in January 2013 with 5,891 homes provided by banks to provide assistance to the most vulnerable families through reduced rents (between 150 and 400 euros per month, with a maximum limit of 30% of the income of the family unit) . It expired two years after its constitution (last January 17) but the Government has extended it for another year, until January 2016. It was established by agreement between the Ministries of Economy, Health and Development, the main credit institutions and their associations, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and the Third Sector Platform.
The FSV is one of the measures, together with the Code of Good Practices (CBP) and the moratorium on evictions, which the Government has put in place and which together have benefited more than 31,000 families. Last Friday, the Council of Ministers approved to make more flexible the requirements for access to the CBP to expand the group of beneficiaries and extend until May 2017 the suspension of the launches on habitual dwellings of these groups.
The Fund's data reflect that in 2014 2,061 applications were received, 42% above the 1,446 registered in 2013. Together, the requests total 3,507, of which 2,230 have been accepted; 1,003, rejected and 274 are pending review. 1,969 applications have already been assigned housing and 1,767 contracts have been made (465 in 2013 and 1,302 in 2014, 280% more).
The increase in the number of requests and contracts in 2014 over 2013 responds to the flexibility of the requirements to be able to access one of these houses and to the extension of the groups that can be accommodated. It is also due to management improvements and greater knowledge from potential beneficiaries.
Those who have been evicted from their habitual residence after January 1, 2008 due to a foreclosure request for non-payment of a mortgage loan can be received. They must meet a series of economic requirements. Specifically, that the total annual income of the family unit does not exceed the limit of three times the Public Indicator of Multiple Effects Income calculated for 14 payments (22,365.42 euros in 2015).
In addition, they must meet other requirements, such as being a large family; have minors in charge; have a disabled person; that the debtor is unemployed and has exhausted the benefits; victims of gender violence; and all those vulnerable persons or family units for which housing implies, in accordance with the social services report, an indispensable asset for the maintenance of their social inclusion.
In May 2014, it was agreed to expand the scope of the Fund to accommodate a greater number of families with no capacity to pay the rent on a market basis. With this modification, the possibility was opened for families to remain in the dwelling they lived in even if they had lost it due to forced execution and even after it had been awarded. This option was also collected for payment dates.
Likewise, families with children up to 18 years old were included (until then the limit was 3 years); dependent or disabled (the minimum 33% disability was eliminated); pre-retired or retired people who would have guaranteed their children or grandchildren with their homes (this circumstance was not included) and other people in an untyped situation but who are advised by social services. With this extension of requirements practically all the groups with special needs derived from the crisis are included.
