Rising housing prices place a growing burden on families, with 8.4% of households with young children struggling to pay mortgage or rent on time, a rate that is twice the European Union average.
The Save the Children report, Aquí no hay quien viva, highlights the persistent housing difficulties faced by families. It notes that Spain has a high share of households delaying rent or mortgage payments, ranking third in the EU behind Greece and Ireland, and above the EU average of 3.2%.
Higher housing costs affect about four in ten households with dependent children, many of whom must allocate around 30% of their income to housing, leaving less room for other essential needs.
Families with young children bear the heaviest burden. United Nations data indicate that between 70% and 80% of evictions since 2008 have involved children and teenagers, affecting nearly 700,000 people in Spain over that period.
The NGO’s director, Andrés Conde, described this as a very cumbersome and unusual figure within the EU and called it a stark example of residential exclusion. In 2019, the presence of children in the home was used as a factor in suspending eviction proceedings.
unhealthy homes
Save the Children warns that about two out of ten children and adolescents, or 21.4%, live in unsanitary homes that may have leaky roofs, damp walls, or other structural issues. In addition, 7.2% of households do not meet minimum conditions for health and safety, and about two in ten children live in areas affected by noise pollution. In Ceuta, Melilla, and Catalonia, nearly 1 in 10 children live in overcrowded housing, and 13.1% of young people live in homes that fail to stay warm enough.
These conditions have a direct impact on physical and mental health, development, school performance, and safety, according to Conde.
Single mothers with dependent children
Save the Children observes that the face of housing insecurity often appears as a single mother with dependent children. There are about 158,000 rental households led by single parents in Spain, predominantly women, bearing what is described as an often unaffordable burden. On average, these families spend an additional 200 euros per month on housing. When considering a typical threshold of 30% of income for housing costs, many households stretch their budgets well beyond that limit.
The NGO highlights that supplementary housing aid of up to 200 euros could alleviate the burden for many families, though implementing such support would require an annual budget in the vicinity of 380 million euros.
A key reason behind this situation is Spain’s relatively small stock of social housing, which accounts for about 2.5% of the housing stock, far below the European average of 9.3%. A quote from Catalina Perazzo, Director of Social and Political Affairs at Save the Children, notes that roughly one and a half million subsidized homes would be needed to meet social needs. The reach of housing assistance has narrowed substantially; among 1.6 million families with children in poverty, about 310,000 faced delays in housing payments, yet only 25,000 received housing assistance in 2020.
More housing and direct assistance
To address these challenges, Save the Children calls for increased funding for housing policies that protect access for vulnerable underage families and for streamlined access to housing assistance for those receiving IMV or other minimum income supports. The report advocates expanding public housing stock through acquisition or rehabilitation and encourages public-private partnerships that benefit low-income families. It also supports tax incentives to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and discounted VAT on housing rehabilitation, along with better coordination between the judicial system and social services.
The organization emphasizes that when minors face eviction risk, vulnerability assessments should be mandatory rather than optional, ensuring such concerns are considered before any decisions affecting children are made.