Living in an industrial warehouse for €850: the new housing

Industrial estates becoming neighbourhoods: living on €850 a month

Living in an industrial warehouse is no longer an oddity: it is the rental market's latest weapon. The El Confidencial report that has shaken up the property sector confirms that local and regional governments in Spain are betting on turning industrial areas into residential ones. The renovations, they insist, are neither expensive nor difficult. The problem, once again, is called bureaucracy.

The price that changes everything

In Humanes de Madrid, an office converted on an industrial estate rents for €850 a month, and demand is such that the homes are snapped up instantly. Those who see the hand of the market celebrate the move: if there is demand, supply finds the gap. Sceptics recall that twenty years ago the 20-square-metre micro-apartment was already being sold as a solution for young people, and that the road to the industrial estates smells like regression.

Bureaucracy, the wall nobody jumps

The cross-party consensus holds that the difficulty lies not in the building work but in the paperwork. Some are calling for 75% of the red tape to be eliminated to unblock the country. Renovating a warehouse is cheap; the licence takes forever.

The shadow of the ghetto

Not everything is praise. The memory of the mileuristas — Spain's thousand-euro-a-month earners — hangs over the debate: first it was those earning a thousand euros, then those earning less; now, those living in warehouses. The image of the tenant going down in pyjamas to sweep the landlord's warehouse portrays a reality without glamour and with the risk of a ghetto.

If bureaucracy does not prevent it, the industrial estates will end up becoming neighbourhoods. The question is with what services and for which pockets. For now, at €850, the queue has already formed.