According to a study published this Tuesday by Oxfam Intermón, after covering monthly housing expenses, 770,000 employed people cross the poverty threshold—their income does not reach 60% of the median, indicating that they have significantly lower economic resources than average for society as a whole—joining the 2.2 million people who were already in this situation even before facing rent or mortgage payments.
The report reveals that housing costs raise the working poverty rate from 11.5% to 15.5%, meaning that one in six workers in Spain struggles to maintain decent living conditions once paying for the roof over their head. “These are people who work and barely manage to pay for their homes every month, but after doing so, they do not have enough income to sustain a decent life,” explains Alejandro García-Gil, head of housing, employment, and social policy at Oxfam Intermón and author of the study, who emphasizes that housing is becoming “one of the factors generating the most impoverishment and inequality.”
This worsening situation due to housing is particularly striking among those renting at market rates. Before paying for housing, the working poverty rate for these households is already 19.35%, but after deducting residential costs, it jumps to 34.1%, meaning that one in three employed people living in rental housing falls below the poverty line after paying for it.
