Spain's evangelical churches plan an affordable rental network amid the housing crisis

The Spanish Evangelical Alliance (AEE) is launching «Bajo su higuera» (Under Your Fig Tree), a network that will bring together churches, lawyers, social workers and landlords to support 150 families with housing problems throughout 2027. The first meeting will be held on 6 February 2027 in Madrid, coinciding with the organisation's 150th anniversary.

There is a scene that repeats itself in many Spanish evangelical churches: someone knocks on the door on a Tuesday morning asking for help paying the rent. This is not a statistic. It is a family with a name. The **Spanish Evangelical Alliance (AEE)** has been watching these calls multiply for some time and has decided to move from piecemeal responses to an organised framework. The project is called **«Bajo su higuera»** and its first meeting is scheduled for **6 February 2027 in Madrid**, coinciding with the entity's **150th anniversary**; it was founded in **1877**.

The stated goal is to support **150 families** during that year. It is not a round brochure figure: it is an operational target that requires coordinating congregations, social organisations, lawyers, social workers, business owners and landlords who until now have operated separately. "The initial response has been very encouraging," explains **Pedro Tarquis**, spokesperson for the AEE. The initiative does not start from scratch: many local churches have been meeting basic needs for years with clothing drives, food banks, host flats and rent assistance. What is new is the common umbrella.

## Emergency funds for two or three months of missed payments

One pillar of the project is encouraging each church to create its own emergency fund. The AEE gives concrete examples of what can leave a household without enough income to pay the rent: a job loss, an illness, a separation. Situations that are not always chronic, but that are enough to open an eviction process. "Two or three months without being able to pay is enough to start an eviction process," Tarquis warns. The proposal insists that each congregation manage its fund with its own criteria for assessment, administration and trinc-up, adapted to its circumstances.

The money is accompanied by support teams that act from the moment an eviction notice arrives. These teams help find legal advice, facilitate dialogue with landlords and connect families with social services. The AEE argues that this mediation also gives landlords security, since they find someone to address missed payments and explore solutions with. Tenant protection and the landlord's legal security, they say, must go hand in hand.

## Underused premises and pastoral housing

The second avenue is making better use of properties that already exist. The AEE wants to promote a review of underused premises and spaces belonging to evangelical churches and organisations to study whether any could be temporarily used as housing. Tarquis mentions former pastoral residences, flats attached to religious buildings and other facilities that are barely used. Each space would undergo a technical and legal assessment with planning advice. The aim, he points out, is not to offer just any space, but to guarantee dignified conditions.

In parallel, the organisation is calling on evangelical property owners to rent out homes at reasonable prices. As a reference it points to **Vecindad Inclusiva** (Inclusive Neighbourhood), a programme of **Diaconía España** that already works on access to housing for people at risk of exclusion or already excluded. The initiative helps landlords with tenancy-related matters and monitors both the properties and the participants. Diaconía, a social organisation linked to the **FEREDE** (Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain), counts more than **700 host places** it offers in Spain for applicants or beneficiaries of international protection, people with temporary protection and stateless persons.

## A call to the parties for a national agreement

The proposal goes beyond the congregations. Coinciding with the pre-campaign for the general election on **29 November**, the AEE is calling on candidates to agree on a national housing pact "whoever governs." "To those who govern, we say: count on us," explains Tarquis. The organisation offers its network of churches and volunteers, present in neighbourhoods and villages across Spain. "We know people by name and we reach places where, sometimes, the public authorities arrive late. We do not want to replace the administrations, but to work with them," he adds.

Among its demands are the urgent expansion of the affordable and social housing stock, transparent management of public resources and better coordination between courts, social services and administrations to prevent vulnerable families from facing eviction without support or a dignified alternative. The AEE, on the other hand, rejects being identified with any particular political option. The February meeting will serve to advance the coordination of churches, professionals and property owners and to turn that cooperation into concrete assistance. Any family going through a situation of missed payments should seek legal advice and contact their municipality's social services before the problem becomes chronic.