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Alicia BocuñanoVATEUEUPPPPYour browser does not support the element., a taxi driver, was living in a van in an encampment of hundreds of people on the outskirts of Ibiza town last year when the police came to force them out after neighbours complained. The eviction was chaotic: families scrambled to collect belongings, and children cried as their parents pleaded with officers. Ms Bocuñano had been homeless since her landlord doubled her rent. Now she is waiting for the next eviction.The lack of housing on islands like Ibiza and other Spanish beach zones is partly due to tourism. Landlords have been turning homes for locals into tourist flats. But in Madrid, too, rents rose about 60% in real terms in the past decade. When rental contracts expire, professional couples are forced out to distant suburbs. Much of Europe faces housing shortages, but Spain’s is especially acute. It is not just rents: 75% of Spaniards own property, but for young people the prospect of a first-time buy is receding into middle age.Only 15 years ago the country had a massive housing surplus. The bursting of that construction bubble in 2008 contributed to the great recession. Since then, supply has plunged: Spain has built just two houses per 1,000 people, while the average in Western countries is between three and four, notes Ignacio de la Torre of Arcano, an investment bank. A labyrinthine permit process, a shortage of skilled workers, the rising cost of materials and scarce finance are all to blame.At the same time, Pedro Sánchez’s left-wing government has favoured immigration. The result is that around 250,000 new households are formed each year but fewer than 90,000 new homes are built, according to the government. The Bank of Spain reckons there is a shortage of 500,000 homes. Worse, housing demand is concentrated in cities while much of rural Spain is depopulating. And public housing is only 2.5% of the total stock, compared with an average of 9% in the European Union.Big demonstrations last year forced politicians to take notice. Housing is at the top of public concerns, according to a survey in December by the Centre for Sociological Research, the state pollster. On January 13th Mr Sánchez responded by proposing a dozen measures. A previously announced state housing company will buy several thousand empty homes left over from the property crash. The government has begun to give subsidies to young renters and will offer tax breaks to landlords who let at below-market rents. He wants to levy at the top rate on tourist apartments and impose a 100% tax on property purchases by non-residents who are not from the . That is a swipe at Britons, but also rich Latin Americans who are buying in Madrid. Whether the minority government can push the tax changes through parliament is unclear.The impact will be limited. Sales to non-resident foreigners (including from the ) totalled only 27,000 in 2023, Mr Sánchez said. His plans focus on regulating demand because control over land use and housebuilding lies with regional governments and mayors. The centre-right opposition People’s Party (), which runs 11 of Spain’s 17 regions, had unveiled its own proposals the previous day. These would expand supply by cutting red tape and offering tax breaks for housebuilding.“The West faces a decisive challenge if it wants to avoid becoming a society divided into two classes, of rich landlords and poor tenants,” Mr Sánchez proclaimed. His rhetoric will doubtless strike a chord among many Spaniards. But since taking office in 2018 he has done little to tackle the housing problem. A law of 2023 allowed regional governments to impose rent controls where housing is scarce. In Catalonia, the only region to apply them fully, the main effect was to shrink the number of new rental contracts by almost a fifth as landlords pulled out.The housing problem requires a national plan, which can only come from an agreement between Mr Sánchez’s Socialists and the . But that is not the prime minister’s way. Public anger over housing is likely to grow before it subsides.