Juli Fernà ndez has added housing powers to Territori and has proposed reversing the Generalitat’s strategy of recent years and promoting the creation of social housing. The central government, in his opinion, should add to this effort, and cede, rather than sell, its homes to the Generalitat so that they can be used for social rental.
The Government has announced this week loans to promote social housing and the sale of Sareb flats. How do you rate these initiatives?
For now, they are just announcements that we have to wait for to materialize and allow us to add to our efforts. For example, the 4,000 million euros of credits that the central government has announced could be used for the Generalitat to have 1,000 million more, which would allow us to finance almost 9,000 social housing. These would be added to the 10,000 affordable rental homes that we have proposed to promote this year and which will increase the social housing stock in Catalonia by 18%. The Generalitat had never considered such an effort.
This purpose, however, is not reflected in the budgets of the Generalitat, which have lowered the housing item this year.
The decrease in the housing budget is only apparent because in 2022 a large number of European funds were allocated that are being executed for several years. This year we have more than 600 million euros to allocate to housing policies. To make tangible performances. Because our purpose is that the right to housing is a real right.
In 2022, the public administrations promoted just over 300 social housing in Catalonia: 90% less than in 2007. How is it possible?
We are reversing that trend and that is why this year we will promote 10,000 homes.
Is 10,000 enough to end the housing problem?
In order to give a structural response to the housing problem in the medium term, this effort needs to continue. But if we don’t start, we’ll never fix it. We know that we only have 3% of public rental housing and we have to reach levels comparable with Europe. That we have to build a sufficient park and above all permanent and rental. By maintaining this effort of 10,000 homes a year, we will reach the result we are looking for.
Has the Barcelona City Council ordinance that obliges private developers to allocate 30% of new developments to affordable rentals helped to solve the problem? Because the City Council itself recognizes that very few floors have been built.
I believe that having mechanisms that make it possible to establish spaces where social rental promotion is carried out is always positive.
Madrid, for example, has proposed a very different strategy and has more than 5,000 social homes in operation. Don’t you think they have done better there?
I don’t know what the result of the policies of other places is, but my job is to transform the housing policy of Catalonia. And I think that boosting 10,000 homes in a year is good policy, and that’s what we focus on.
The Government has announced that it will sell the Sareb flats. Will the Generalitat buy them?
We have been working for months to buy them. But it is difficult if we do not know what they are or how they are and it is difficult to access them. I hope that announcement serves at least to expedite the purchase. Because what the Government has proposed in fact does not change anything from how we were. What would be a real change, and should be done, would be for the communities to give up the flats free of charge, as requested by the Parliament of Catalonia with broad support that included En Comú Podem and the PSC.
The Ministry of Transportation unlocked the purchase of new trains for Rodalies half a year ago. Have negotiations on the transfer progressed?
We need a political space in which to talk about the three issues that need to be addressed: service, infrastructure and money. We do not want to talk about management or a program contract, but about building a solution horizon, and we will only achieve that by assuming all responsibilities.
The economic transfer is an issue that the ministry and the previous team of the ministry left on track. Do they reject it if it is not accompanied by the rest?
To resolve the situation, the transfer must be made in an integral way. We have incidents eight out of ten days, that is what makes having the skills so demanding. The country needs a reliable railway system and, unfortunately, the fundamental piece, which is Rodalies, is failing.
Sometimes it seems that the Generalitat forgets that it already owns the service and does not use its powers.
It might seem that I don’t want anything to happen, but I have offered Renfe to pay them to double the frequencies in Lleida and do what Ferrocarrils will do from 2025. It doesn’t happen. What interest does Renfe have? Don’t you want to give citizens a better service?
Are you in favor of putting tolls on the highways again?
No, no tolls. We need a traffic management tool to distribute the traffic.
Would a vignette as a flat annual fee be the way?
It can be, but it must be applied on all main roads and be the responsibility of the State. The electoral contexts are making it not move as fast as it would be desirable.
The agreement with the PSC to approve the budgets of the Generalitat included a commission to define the extension of the El Prat airport. When will they set it up?
The agreed schedule is one year. Now is the time to work on the more technical part. We have different proposals on the table, we must assess them and choose the one that best suits the broad consensus: intercontinental nature, respect for the environment, increased prosperity and reduced inconvenience to neighbours. The proposal that best responds to all these questions will be the best way to address it. In addition, the participation of the Generalitat in governance is fundamental.
For the construction of the B-40 between Terrassa and Sabadell, is the only hurdle that remains is the origin of the financing?
Yes, we have a budget agreement that we will comply with to carry out the agreed project within the Vallès specific mobility plan, which marks what it marks: an urban ring road project, which is not a highway.
The plan does not specify whether the road will be one lane, two or three…
When the project is drawn up, the solution will be specified. Now we work so that there is financing. The request of the Generalitat is that it does not leave the third additional provision.
T-Mobility is one of the great projects of his department. Do you keep the calendar with the intention of ending cardboard cards this year?
The implementation is advancing and we have lessons that serve us well.
Like the queues these days to get the T-Jove…
We have issued 130,000 cards, it is a very important milestone in the deployment of T-Mobilitat. We have a transformation of the system ahead of us, especially when rates are changed, not just support, which will be the next step.
