The Government and Generalitat plan to sign a new agreement today to finance 1,152 new affordable rental homes in a total of 18 towns in Catalonia. The Catalan autonomous community will be the main beneficiary of the program, announced at the time by Pedro Sánchez, to build more than 3,233 rental properties below the market price with a budget of 160 million. This initiative is included in the Recovery Plan, which so far has invested 1,000 million in social housing.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, announced yesterday during her appearance in the Senate to explain the general lines of her department that the Government will sign 44 agreements this Tuesday with 10 autonomous communities for the construction or rehabilitation of the aforementioned 3,233 homes for be allocated to affordable rent. Of them, more than a third will be made available to Catalan families. The Generalitat sent the central government a list of candidate municipalities to receive European funds for social rental housing. The final award comes from the joint work of both administrations.
The majority of the new homes for social rent will be located in the following locations, according to official sources: Barcelona (157 properties), Sant Cugat del Vallès (130), Calafell (110), Viladecans (105), Sabadell (97), Cornellà (93), Sant Just Desvern and Mongat (70), and Mataró (60). Most of them are concentrated, therefore, in Barcelona and its metropolitan area. In Lleida, 25 homes have been planned and in the province of Girona there will be none.
In this way, with the agreements with the autonomous communities that are signed this Tuesday, the new affordable rental homes counted by the Government will be close to 25,000. To these we must add the project to mobilize another 50,000 from Sareb, 11,000 from the Social Fund, 14,234 from the state Housing plan, 43,000 from an ICO loan line, 35,957 through Sepes and 9,849 thanks to agreements with local entities. As of July 31, 2023 – the latest figure available – there were already 47,209 homes that had been made available. The objective is to reach 184,000 properties by the end of the legislature.
The Government will also approve this Tuesday in the Council of Ministers the distribution of funds for 430 million for communities to rehabilitate housing, a measure already announced and planned for this month of March.
During the appearance yesterday of the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, in the Senate, the PP criticized that the Government’s housing policy is “worsening” the market situation and spoke of “residential populism.” The head of the branch asked the autonomous communities governed by the popular parties to reconsider their opposition to the rental price index to prevent professionals from dedicating 100% of their salaries to paying leases.
The minister confirmed the Government’s intention to regulate tourist rentals, also seasonal rentals, and to modify the Land Law to avoid the paralysis of urban projects due to minor defects. This last regulation will be approved in the second round by the Council of Ministers under the same terms as in the first.
Rodríguez also announced that in the coming days the Executive will approve the two lines of credit that it will sign with the ICO to mobilize 8.5 billion. It is, on the one hand, a line of guarantees for young people and families who want to purchase a home, and on the other, a line of loans for the promotion of affordable housing.
The Minister of Housing highlighted the Government’s commitment to extending the suspension of evictions to vulnerable families. Rodríguez confirmed the processing of an amendment to the anti-crisis bill to extend the ban to 2028.