Accessible and sustainable housing for persons with disabilities. Spain

Abstract

[EN]This report analyses the current situation of accessible and sustainable housing for persons with disabilities in Spain, focusing on accessibility, sustainability, affordability and social housing. The review shows that Spain has a relatively strong legal and policy framework, supported by the Right to Housing Act (Law 12/2023), the Technical Building Code, the State Housing Plans and EU-funded programmes under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. However, implementation remains uneven and important structural barriers persist. Most persons with disabilities live in private housing, while social housing accounts for less than 2 % of the total stock, and many people with high support needs still depend on institutional settings. Accessibility remains a major challenge: nearly 70 % of the housing stock is not accessible and only 0.6 % of dwellings are fully accessible, which seriously limits independent living and community inclusion. These difficulties are compounded by poverty, high housing costs, limited affordable options and fragmented disability-disaggregated data. The report identifies relevant good practices, including retrofitting subsidies, community-based housing initiatives and sustainability-oriented renovation programmes. It concludes that Spain needs binding national targets, stronger enforcement of accessibility obligations, simplified subsidy systems, better monitoring, and closer integration of accessibility, affordability and sustainability in future housing strategies to guarantee the right to independent living for persons with disabilities.