Housing distributes 180 million among communities with stressed rental zones

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda will distribute 180 million euros among the five autonomous communities that have declared stressed residential market zones, according to Royal Decree 851/2026, of October 21, published in the Official State Gazette on Thursday, October 22, 2026 (reference BOE-A-2026-21951). The grants are awarded directly and exceptionally, without a public call, and the resolutions must be issued and notified within a maximum period of five months. The Council of Ministers approved the text at its meeting on October 20, and the royal decree enters into force on October 23, one day after its publication.

The regulation develops article 18.5 of Law 12/2023, of May 24, on the right to housing, which enables the department led by Isabel Rodríguez García to design specific financing programs for territories that have activated this mechanism. The text invokes STC 79/2024, of May 21, to maintain that the state law does not empty regional competencies, and justifies the direct award on the basis that only the administrations that have declared those zones can be beneficiaries. The Council of Ministers agreed on May 12, 2026, to the urgent administrative processing of the project.

Distribution by autonomous communities

The maximum amounts will be paid from budget application 25.09.261N.759 of the 2026 budget of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, in a single advance payment and without the need to provide a guarantee:

• Catalonia: 119,471,633 euros, for the 271 declared municipalities (140 in the resolution of March 14, 2024, and 131 in that of October 8, 2024).
• Basque Country: 31,010,079 euros, for 18 municipalities and one municipal district, including Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Donostia/San Sebastián, Barakaldo, Irún, and Basauri.
• Navarra: 13,376,491 euros, for 21 municipalities.
• Galicia: 10,224,607 euros, for A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela.
• Principality of Asturias: 5,917,190 euros, for Llanes, Cabrales, Gijón, Avilés, and Gozón, with actions limited to specific nuclei and neighborhoods.

The distribution was weighted by the resident population in the declared zones and by the percentage of households that allocate more than 40% of their net income to rent payments.

Five eligible purposes

Article 1 details the actions that can be financed in these zones:

• Promotion and rehabilitation of housing or alternative housing solutions intended for affordable or social rental, regardless of the land classification and ownership.
• Acquisition of land with residential buildability by the regional administration or its dependent entities.
• Development and urbanization of land for residential use.
• Acquisition of housing for social or affordable rental.
• Coverage or guarantee of unpaid rental income for habitual and permanent housing occupied by young people or vulnerable groups, provided that the rent does not exceed the maximum limit of the state reference rental system.

Permanent protection and expenditure control

Funding is conditional upon the resulting housing being subject to a regime of permanent public protection, with no possibility of voluntary disqualification, and being permanently allocated to social or affordable rental, including in subsequent transfers. The granting resolutions shall identify the affected properties, set the maximum rents and monitoring mechanisms, and may not establish a temporary duration for the protection.

Failure to comply with these obligations is considered a breach of purpose and requires the reimbursement of the amounts attributable to the affected properties. The economic and operational justification must be presented within three months following the end of the execution period, and the lack of publicity of the institutional logo authorizes a claim for 5% of the granted amount. The communities must also coordinate with the city councils that requested the declaration or participated in the specific plans.

Linkage with the State Housing Plan

The first final provision adds a twelfth additional provision to Royal Decree 326/2026, of April 22, which regulates the State Housing Plan 2026-2030. The funds transferred through this channel will be additional and purpose-specific relative to the ordinary financing of the plan and cannot be attributed to the regional co-financing contribution.

The impact of the regulation is twofold: it injects immediate resources into the specific plans that accompany each declaration of a stressed zone and consolidates a stable financial link between the State and the communities that apply rent limits. The five beneficiary autonomous communities will have slightly more than five months to specify actions before the resolution deadline expires, while those that have not declared stressed zones are excluded from the distribution.

Source: Official State Gazette, no. 262, of October 22, 2026, Sec. I. General provisions, page 140807 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-21951).