This situation affects 13% of Basque families, many of whom are integrated individuals with stable employment and decent wages. Nevertheless, it is estimated that one in six people, or 17%, are at risk of social exclusion, largely burdened by high housing costs. The latest report from the FOESSA Foundation, presented by Cáritas Euskadi in the Basque Parliament, concludes that housing is the primary factor of imbalance, particularly affecting migrants.

José Emilio Lafuente, Secretary General of Cáritas Gipuzkoa, emphasized that this phenomenon no longer exclusively impacts the most vulnerable groups but is extending to social strata traditionally considered integrated. The report, based on 600 in-depth interviews with Basque households, confirms that Euskadi maintains better social integration indicators than the state average, yet this improvement coexists with increasing fragility.

In this context, employment alone is no longer sufficient. Despite economic recovery, wages have only gained 0.6% in purchasing power since 2018. This real loss of capacity explains why 11% of households experience situations of labor exclusion, either due to unemployment or involuntary part-time work. Lafuente warned that the recovery of employment does not translate into a sufficient reduction in social exclusion.

However, housing acts as a bottleneck. Prices, both for purchase and rent, have grown significantly faster than family incomes. In the rental market, pressure is particularly intense: prices have doubled in recent years, and the risk of poverty soars to 30% among renters, compared to 5% for homeowners. This tension has direct effects on daily life, with more households struggling to maintain adequate temperatures or cope with unforeseen expenses.

The report also warns of a deterioration in residential conditions. Approximately 42,000 people live in insecure housing, and 10% live in inadequate conditions, a figure that has increased in recent years. The rental market, moreover, concentrates the most vulnerable groups: more than half of people at risk of poverty reside in rented housing. Among the most exposed groups are migrants, young people, large families, and female-headed households.

Cáritas Euskadi called for a change in approach to public policies, arguing that the housing problem cannot be solved solely by the Department of Housing. The organization advocates for bold measures that jointly address housing, employment, taxation, social protection, and migration. Despite the critical diagnosis, Cáritas acknowledged the historical efforts of Basque institutions, highlighted by PNV parliamentarian Jonatan Moreno, who noted that over 120,000 protected homes have been built since 1981.

Cáritas Euskadi, which assisted over 31,000 people in 2024 thanks to 3,289 volunteers and allocated more than 5.2 million euros in aid, much of it linked to housing, urged that public policies also incorporate the voices of those excluded from the system. The message was clear: social exclusion can no longer be understood solely as an income issue but as a more complex phenomenon where access to housing marks the boundary between integration and precariousness.