The aid organisation Oxfam Intermón published a study on 20 October 2026 which says that the sharp rise in housing costs in Spain pushes an additional 770,000 employed people below the poverty line. Deducting rent, mortgage payments and housing bills from income brings the calculated number of people in work and in poverty to nearly three million. The report says this raises the poverty rate among employed people from 11.48 to 15.49 per cent.
The study is based on microdata from the Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística for the 2025 survey year, covering income data for 2024. Its methodology deducts housing costs from household disposable income and recalculates the poverty-risk threshold on that basis. The aim is to give a more realistic picture of the purchasing power of employed people in regions and household types facing particularly high housing costs. Oxfam Intermón stresses that this is a supplementary calculation based on official data, not an official measure of poverty after housing costs.
The figures also reveal social and regional disparities: those particularly affected are Renters on market rents, as well as households with children, especially larger families. Areas with high housing costs stand out, including Community of Madrid and Catalonia. There, rising asking rents and higher financing costs often mean that earnings barely cover ongoing housing costs, or leave shortfalls that have to be made up by going without elsewhere.
The findings fit with official poverty and social exclusion statistics: according to the latest results of the ECV 2025 the Instituto Nacional de Estadística reports a persistently high AROPErate for Spain. Oxfam Intermón sees housing costs as an additional driver that exacerbates existing social risks for employed people. This is the organisation’s analysis; it is based on published ECV data but uses its own calculation of the threshold after housing costs are deducted.
Oxfam Intermón recommends targeted short-term support for low-income households, alongside structural reforms. Its proposals include rapidly expanding subsidised housing, measures to curb rent increases in strained markets, and wage policies that stabilise real purchasing power. What political steps may follow remains open and will depend on specific decisions by the relevant authorities in Spain.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).