Never in This Fucking Lifetime

The housing crisis reaches two decades without real pogre, trapped in a blame game between different levels of government, while measures such as teleworking are proposed to ease urban pressure.

## The spiral of overlapping powers

It has been **20 years** since that protest against the impossibility of getting a home. The slogan, blunt and direct, resonated with a frustration that, two decades later, seems just as raw. The recurring excuse for inaction is the tangled web of powers: the central government blames the autonomous regions, these blame local councils, and the latter, in turn, blame the central government again. A vicious circle that, in practice, means no one takes ultimate responsibility. Meanwhile, cities such as **Berlín** have opted for rent regulation, achieving prices similar to Spain's but with considerably higher wages. The lack of political will, disguised as jurisdictional complexity, has become the main obstacle.

## Remote work, a way to ease congestion

The idea that rural villages "give away houses" is a persistent myth, but it ignores a crucial reality: the lack of job opportunities in those areas. This is where a proposal emerges that could, at least in part, tackle two problems at once: the housing crisis and the depopulation of the "España vaciada" (emptied Spain). A significant **100%** tax break for remote work could encourage companies to relocate part of their operations, easing urban pressure in large cities. Although many companies resist remote work, tax incentives could change their outlook. This measure does not replace others such as rent control, a widespread practice in Europe, but is presented as a complement to diversify supply and demand.

## Funding, the new spectre

If the previous excuse was a lack of powers, the new barrier being raised is funding. Every time a solution is proposed, the argument arises that there is no money to implement it. It is the other side of the same coin: the lack of political will to prioritize a problem affecting thousands of people, with **40 evictions a day** and a worrying link to rising suicides. Real estate speculation, far from being an abstraction, is claiming lives. The measures being announced, such as a recent government decree, raise expectations, but recent history invites skepticism. The public's patience, after two decades of broken promises, appears to have reached its limit.