Economist Clara Mattei says governments should pass laws preventing homes from being treated as financial assets that can be freely bought and sold. In an interview conducted in Córdoba, she argued that housing should instead be protected as a common good and managed collectively.
Mattei, a professor of economics at the University of Tulsa and author of “Escapar del capitalismo,” said her Forum for Real Economic Emancipation is exploring community land trusts. Under this model, a community owns and manages property, preserving homes for collective use. She said she was unsure how the approach would fit into Spain’s legal system.
For Mattei, such initiatives should also build pressure on governments to limit the expansion of private capital in housing. She argued that governments are unlikely to act without sustained, organised mobilisation, adding that housing needs a distinct legal protection that treats it as more than a commodity.
Her wider argument is that capitalism limits democracy because most people have little say over what is produced or how work is organised. She described worker cooperatives as one way to give workers a role in those decisions, while noting that cooperatives also have limits.
Mattei also called for public goods and services, including housing, water and education, to be recovered from profit-driven provision and managed collectively. On public spending, she rejected the claim that austerity is necessary because people live beyond their means, arguing instead that wealth and capital are not taxed sufficiently and that public funds also subsidise private investors.
She further said that higher interest rates can weaken labour markets and increase unemployment, reducing workers’ bargaining power. In her view, public ownership alone is not enough if institutions remain under technocratic control; she argued for collective management as well.
Sources: El País Economía.