Housing in Spain and Poverty

B1 – Intermediate

Housing generally refers to the social problem of ensuring that members of society have a home in which they can live in, whether this is a house, or some other kinds of dwelling, lodging, or shelter.

Watch the video below about housing in Spain and its connection to poverty.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you agree with the woman in the video?
  2. Do you know anything about your government’s housing policy?
  3. Does your government provide housing for people on low or no income?
  4. Is it easy to find good quality housing in your town?
  5. How can housing be made affordable for everyone?
  6. What issues will arise with housing of the future?
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13 replies on “Housing in Spain and Poverty”

Do you agree with the woman in the video?
Well, the woman´s analist is partial based in her own experience. In spain we have a culture of property, there are very small ofert of renting houses and this model is very complicated for young people or students. There are few houses and very expensives for rent, so, very often, these people wants to share the cost to live without problems. It´s true that the unemployment rate is very high but the social policies and principaly the families have maintained the situation under control. I think in general there aren´t more homeless although we become independent more late than in another countries.
Do you know anything about your government’s housing policy?
It´s curious but there are a lot of empty houses and there are many people that they want to buy a house in spain. The government promotes public houses and gives tax beneficts but the market doesn´t solve people´s needs.
Does your government provide housing for people on low or no income?
The government promotes public houses for persons or families with social problems.
Is it easy to find good quality housing in your town?
It´s very easy to find good quality housing in my town but the people usually mortgage for several years to pay them, the houses are very expensives in general and people don´t want for rent.
How can housing be made affordable for everyone?
It´s very complicated. First, we must change our property culture and the governmet foment houses for rent, so, the prices may be more cheaper because there will be more houses in the market.
What issues will arise with housing of the future?
In europe there will be less and older persons in the future. The houses must be adapted for the issues of old persons and young people must have more options for have a home.

You did a very good job writing your answers to this lesson’s discussion questions.

See how you can better write this sentence:

It´s very easy to find good quality housing in my town but the people usually mortgage for several years to pay them, the houses are very expensives in general and people don´t want for rent.

It´s very easy to find good quality housing in my town but the people usually get a mortgage that they have to pay them for several years. the In general, houses here are very expensive and people don´t want to rent.

Keep practicing your writing by doing this exercise.

1. Do you agree with the woman in the video?
I think that it is not really like this. We have the same beggars problem that have other countries.
2. Do you know anything about your government’s housing policy?
We have some helps for young people with very few salaries, for older people who live alone or have few money.
3. Does your government provide housing for people on low or no income?
Yes, the government provide housing for people with low or no income.
4. Is it easy to find good quality housing in your town?
Yes, but sometimes they are not cheap.
5. How can housing be made affordable for everyone?
The Catalan government tried to regularize rental prices but was unsuccessful. The owners of the flats for rent have found a way to break the law.
6. What issues will arise with housing of the future?
I think that it will be quite similar than now. The prices of the apartment will increase more and more.

Well done practicing your skills.

Here is the more accurate way to write this sentence:

We have the same beggars problem that have other countries.

We have the same poverty problem that other countries have.

Keep being consistent with your practice. Great going!

1. Do you agree with the woman in the video?
Not entirely, it is true that in Spain there is a problem with the price of housing, especially in the big cities and for young people who want to become independent.
Many of them live with their parents and it is not frequent, although they do share a flat with the owner.
It is not true that in Spain there are many beggars in the subway, in the street, in my opinion if I compare it with many of the big cities in Europe and the United States that I have visited, it does not seem to me that it is superior, I would say that even less perceived.

2. Do you know anything about your government’s housing policy?
There are some social benefits, especially in big cities for young people, older people and people with low incomes.

3. Does your government provide housing for people on low or no income?
There is help with social rentals and access to social apartments for people with low income

4. Is it easy to find good quality housing in your town?
It depends on the price you are willing to pay. The closer to a big city, the more difficult it is to find a good quality apartment at a good price.

5. How can housing be made affordable for everyone?
Giving greater legal certainty to owners who rent their homes. Currently there is no guarantee that the rent can be collected or that the house will be returned in good condition. If there were greater legal certainty, more apartments would be put up for rent and the price would drop.

6. What issues will arise with housing of the future?
The problem will be in the big cities, the surface of the apartment will be reduced more and more and the price will increase.

Impressive work on your writing practice for this lesson!

Take a look at how this response can still be improved slightly:

Giving greater legal certainty to owners who rent their homes. Currently there is no guarantee that the rent can be collected or that the house will be returned in good condition. If there were greater legal certainty, more apartments would be put up for rent and the price would drop.

By giving greater legal guarantee to owners who rent their homes, it would be possible to make housing affordable for everyone. Currently, there is no guarantee that the rent can be collected or that the house will remain in good condition. If there were firmer legal assurance, more apartments would be put up for rent and their prices would drop.

Keep at it!

1. I disagree, it is true that the unemployment rate here in Spain is high (not so high) and by that many people have to rent a room in a shared flat. However, the owners are not usually living in that apartment, as they rent it to multiple people to take profit. Also, the rules are (usually) the same for all the users of the apartment, mainly because neither of them are the owners. Also, I saw much more people begging in the streets in Los Angeles than in Madrid.
2. There are several national programs of publicly promoted housing for families with low resources, in which the house are much more cheaper. However, this kind of houses cannot be rented or speculated with.
3. Apart from the public promotion of housing, there are free public hostels for people without a roof, and also, a lot of social lunchroom in the cities to avoid starving people.
4. It is easy to find, but it cost a lot more that older (and not so neat) housing. However, it is by far more cheaper than housing in the bigger cities of Spain.
5. I think that by limiting speculation, there are a lot of people with dozens of properties just for renting them. These people is causing the prices to rise and people with low income, or young people, cannot afford to buy a house and therefore need to rent. The problem is that renting is much more expensive in the long term that buying a house.
6. I don’t know, I think that by improving the mobility and transportation, people will not need to live in cities (expensive), and therefore they will be able to live comfortably in towns (much more cheaper).

Always a good idea to practice your skills as much as you can.

Here is how you can write this sentence better:

I disagree, it is true that the unemployment rate here in Spain is high (not so high) and by that many people have to rent a room in a shared flat.

I disagree with her but it is true that the unemployment rate here in Spain is relatively high (not so high) and because of that many people have to rent a room in a shared flat.

Until the next entries!

Do you agree with the woman in the video?
Not at all, because she’s sharing a very limited view of the real situation here in Spain. It’s true that there’s a lot of unemployment, but our streets are not filled with homeless people begging for money, however there are some people doing that, but it’s not that exaggerated. Regarding the apartment, I don’t know where she lived but there’s an agreement between housemates in which each one have its own bedroom, and they all share the rest of the apartment, that is, kitchen, living room and bathroom. In fact, this situation only happens in our two biggest cities, the rest of our cities are more like big villages and there are enough room so it’s rare to see people sharing their apartments.

Do you know anything about your government’s housing policy?
As far as I know, there is a basic housing policy regarding apartment rentals, so both tenant and lessor are covered legally if one of them incur in any undesirable activities.

Does your government provide housing for people on low or no income?
It’s not the norm, but occasionally some exceptions are made. For example, government could give apartments to those that are in extreme poverty, and also there are initiatives to make some apartments cheaper for people that meet certain requirements.

Is it easy to find good quality housing in your town?
If you have the money to afford it, sure. But if not, there’s usually good apartments or houses that are quite comfy. In proportion, there’s a little bit of everything regarding the quality.

How can housing be made affordable for everyone?
Since husing is supply and demand based, prices are set by owners, it’s also based on the location that you’re searching, so if an owner raises the price of its apartment, the rest in the same area would be doing the same. I guess the only measure that could stop price escalation is to be
managed by the goverment itself, so they could set a fixed-in-time prices.

What issues will arise with housing of the future?
I think the same that we’re are currently facing, lack of good quality housing at affordable prices, actually it’s happening both for renting and buying home. I expect the same scenario that we’re still facing.

Kudos to your efforts answering the questions as best as you can! Keep going!

Here is a better way to write this sentence:

Since husing is supply and demand based, prices are set by owners, it’s also based on the location that you’re searching, so if an owner raises the price of its apartment, the rest in the same area would be doing the same.

Since housing is supply and demand based, prices are set by owners, it’s also based on the location where you’re searching for a property, so if an owner raises the price of their apartment, the rest in the same area would be doing the same.

Until your next entry!

1- I agree with her. Describes the situation in Spain with the young people/students.
2- I don’t have much information about the current government’s housing policy in Sapin. This has changed in the last years. The government in Spain does not provide housing for people on low or no income, but they provide aids in order to have a house. In other countries of the North of Europe have a better goverment aids in general than Spain.
3- Yes, the government has special aids for the people that have a very big economy problems. People that are in a social exclusion,
4- Yes, in my city is easy to find good quality housing but the price is increasing during the last years.
5- I think it is not easy The very big problem of Spain is the problem with the unemployment and the quality of the jobs.
6- I think there will be problems with a large population and bad working conditions.

Good job writing your responses to this lesson’s discussion questions. Keep going with your practice.

Take a look at how you can revise this sentence:

The very big problem of Spain is the problem with the unemployment and the quality of the jobs.

The biggest problem of Spain is the problem with the unemployment and the poor/low quality of the jobs that are available.

Happy writing!

1. I don’t understand the totally all the conversation of this woman but the parts that I think that I understand I’m agree with her. In Spain especially the students or the people that don’t have the economy for rent his own flat try to rent a room and share the rest of the flat with other persons. The part that she talks about the unemployment and the people that need to play guitar for earn money or borrow money in the streets I think that ir real but is not different to other big cities in the world. In New York or London can see the same people in the streets or in the subway that in Madrid or Barcelona.

2. Yes I know that in Spain have many government aids especially for the people that have more economy problems. If you are in a social exclusion situation probably will have an estatal house and you’ll don’t pay anything for it. If you are young and have a bad salary probably will have a little help of the government for pay the rent of your house. But if you don’t have a big economy problems you will can’t have estatal aids. In Germany or other countries of the North of Europe have a better estatal aids in general than Spain. But in Spain at least we have something. In many countries don’t have anything in relation with government aids.

3. Yes the government have special aids for the people that have a very big economy problems. People that are in a social exclusion, don’t have any employment and probably have problems with the drugs too. This type of people don’t have anything and need the help of the state.

4. Yes definitely. In Madrid have all the types of houses. Very good houses only for a very rich people. Good houses with a many types of prices in function of the size and the zone of the house. This type are the most abundant. By last in Madrid have zones with the most cheapest houses. Are the worst zones and the houses are not specially beatiful but don’t have problems with the security and the materials of this houses. I remember when I lived in Mexico existed zones with houses constructed with very bad materials and are very dangerous. In Madrid don’t exist this type of houses. Only exist dangerous houses in residual zones that live people in social exclusion that are constructed his ilegal own houses.

5. The very big problem of Spain is the problem with the unemployment and the quality of the jobs. With the economic crisis of 2008 many people lost his jobs and the salarys of many people went down. Now seems that more people found job and have more money for doing many things but the problem whit the unemployment have improved but was not resolved. With the salarys is very similar. Many people still have a very bad salaries and the prices of the houses and all the things increase year by year. The solution at this time is improve the quality of the jobs and try to resolve the problem with the unemplyment definitely.

6. I don’t know very well. I only hope that the problems that originated the last crisis in relation with the price of the houses don’t be repeated during the next years.

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