“What did they spend their budget on?”

“Due to insufficient credit for the granting and payment of the file, it has been decided to refuse assistance,” a letter Juana received in Murcia’s capital informed her that she would not be eligible for youth rental assistance in Murcia. Neither she nor the others who have been waiting for her for over two years. The country that financed the aid has run out of money, according to the Ministry of Development of Murcia. “What did they use the budget for? I know many people who asked for help, but not a single one was given it,” says the young woman.

The subsidy will start in 2023 with the aim of paying up to 60% of rent, with a monthly allowance of 360 euros for housing and up to 180 euros for rooms. The submission period was for almost two years until March 2025, but on Wednesday of this week I received a notice that the budget had been exhausted.

Maria Dolores Hill, head of the Housing Directorate, claimed that the Housing Directorate had been “considering various options for many months in order to be able to respond to all requests received, including formally requesting the Ministry of Housing to replenish the balance of the Young Rental Bonus”. Fomento asserted that there was “always a negative reaction” from the ministry.

The ministry did not say how many people have benefited from the subsidy so far or how many people were left out of the process, but claims the amount contributed under the framework of the state housing plan is “insignificant”. “The remaining credits (allocated for aid) are 6,141.45 euros (3,853.25 euros in 2025 and 2,288.20 euros in 2026),” Fomento said. A letter sent to applicants defended this, stating that the amount of the next file to be granted (€12,420.00) “exceeds the amount of the remaining credit”.

new call

Following the announcement, the ministry pledged to launch a new call “for a contribution of €2 million entirely from regional funds.” “This new recruitment will enable the re-evaluation of files that could not be processed due to the lack of national funds allocated for this aid.”

“It’s not a funding issue, it’s a management issue. Why do you want more money if you can’t spend it?” they ask the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs. The Ministry has transferred 26 million euros from 2022 to the region of Murcia as a young rental bonus.

“We have not been able to launch these programs since the Vox advisor (Development Director José Manuel Pancorvo) was stationed there in 2023.” They also point out that the region has the financial autonomy to expand funding for these plans, as Catalonia has done this time.

Despite the concerns of both organizations, the Council of Ministers approved the proposed regional allocation of national financial support for the Youth Rental Bonus in 2025. The amount will reach 200 million euros, of which the region of Murcia will receive 8.8 million euros, or 4.40% of the total amount.

“Bism” to landlords

“This kind of assistance does not help solve the problem. It is a direct benefit for landlords. If you give them rental assistance but don’t touch the rent, the reaction of real estate employers and landlords will be to raise the rent,” said Pablo Vidal, a spokesperson for the housing association.

This is precisely the case of Claudia, who is one of the people affected by this refusal of assistance. When she first visited the apartment she had lived in for two years, the landlord handed her a document explaining how to apply for rental assistance. “The apartment cost 650 euros with a garage, and the landlord split the amount between the house and the garage so I could receive assistance. My apartment at the time was not worth the 650 euros that the landlord wanted to charge me, but the landlord insisted that with the assistance the rent would be 350 euros,” she explained. elDiario.es.

“Many requested it and embarked on life projects along with that assistance, but then found themselves in debt and it remains to be seen how to resolve it,” Vidal admitted. “These grants are just a patch, but they are necessary at this time. In other autonomous communities, grants are managed much better.”

“The solution to this housing crisis cannot come through a government that supports it. It is very important to point out that in this whole situation the government is not only not neutral, but is part of the political wing of property employers and the financial industry,” a housing association spokesperson said.

Regarding what happened in the region, Vidal does not rule out the possibility that the lack of funding is a “controlled ploy”. “This is part of the People’s Party’s policy on housing, just like education and health care. Empty public funds and transfer them to the private sector.”

“opaque” process

Mr Fomento said the temporary refusal of the youth rental subsidy was a last resort on the subsidy, which housing associations had defined from the start as “opaque”. “Applicants have never received a response and the administration has been forced into silence. They were simply told that their application was in progress and that was it,” the spokesperson charged. Here’s what both Juana and Claudia corroborate: “I requested assistance in March 2024 and have not received any kind of notification since then,” the former explained.

Claudia applied for aid twice, the first time in March 2023, when she was rejected because she did not meet one of the requirements. “I found out when I went to Public Works and was told that there were no funds left. Six months ago, when I wanted to check on the status of my second application, I was again told that there were no funds left.”

City council member resignation request and “election support”

Socialist member of the regional parliament Miguel Ortega this Friday called for the resignation of Public Works Minister Jorge García Montoro for blocking aid from the Youth Rental Bonus. Applicants for the Youth Rental Bonus have been waiting for more than two years for regional administrations to receive funds allocated by the Spanish government.

Victor Eggio, the regional Podemos spokesperson, said this morning that the regional government was “stranding hundreds of young people who requested this assistance.”

A Purple spokesperson recalled that the regional executive issued this call for independent support in April 2023, a month before the local elections. Podemos is requesting an extension of the credit “to pay the young people who requested this assistance”. “It’s not worth announcing future calls. What we want is for López Milas to pay now.”