Frente Amplio is moving forward with an initiative that prohibits the construction of that type of apartment
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The far-left party that governs Uruguay under the administration of Yamandú Orsi, Frente Amplio, is promoting an unusual bill that seeks to ban studio apartments throughout the country.
The initiative was drafted by pro-government senator Gustavo González and consists of a single article, but with major implications. The text proposes to directly eliminate the construction of studio-type apartments and to establish that every housing unit must have a minimum of 35 square meters (377 square feet), in addition to requiring that each unit must mandatorily have a separate bedroom.
If it is implemented, the proposal would imply the total disappearance of the concept of the studio apartment as a housing option, a type of dwelling widely used in urban areas, especially by young people, students, self-employed workers, and people who live alone or who do not have enough money for more rooms.
El senador Gustavo González
The left-wing legislator himself explained that the objective is to return to previous regulations that established mandatory minimum dimensions. “So what I say is to go back to the national housing law that set 35 square meters (377 square feet) as a minimum, and if you have a family and so on, you add more square meters per bedroom, I think that is appropriate,” González stated.
The senator also justified the initiative with arguments that target the very concept of studio apartments, questioning their existence as a residential option. According to what he maintained, this type of housing became established mainly as a real estate business driven by the benefits of the promoted or socially interested housing law.
In that vein, he went even further by suggesting that living in a studio apartment would be incompatible with human dignity. “A human being can't have lunch, have dinner, sleep, and take care of personal hygiene all in a single room,” the legislator stated, making it clear that the bill seeks to eliminate that possibility completely, even though thousands of people could be left without the option of buying an apartment, whether due to preference or money.
El senador Gustavo González
The proposal doesn't arise in isolation. González assured that the bill already has support within the ruling party, and that several Frente Amplio legislators expressed their willingness to support the bill.
The bill reflects a far-left vision in which the government not only heavily regulates the real estate market, but also seeks to determine how people must live, eliminating existing housing options and replacing them with a model defined by political power, regardless of the decisions and preferences of private owners.
