Illa mobilises €5.8 billion for 39,000 affordable homes in Catalonia

The Generalitat has mobilised over €5.8 billion for protected rental promotions. The plan includes nearly 39,000 homes in various phases and new tenders in November and 2027.

The public housing plan of the Generalitat is progressing with €5.8 billion mobilised for protected rental promotions. This figure has been detailed by the Govern, which states that 5,997 homes have already been built during the current term, 7,009 are under construction, and 25,943 have reserved land and will begin to be built between 2027 and 2028. In total, nearly 39,000 homes built, underway or planned, out of the 50,000 that the overall plan contemplates. This information, reported by elconfidencial.com, is part of the strategy that 'president' Salvador Illa has brought to the third General Policy debate in the Parlament.

The mobilised funds do not cover the entire plan. They correspond to the promotion and combine public funds with private capital. The first tender closed in July with two awards: Landetic, linked to Grupo Corp, will build and manage 1,065 homes, while the alliance Visoren-Copisa will handle another 875 under a surface right for 75 years.

Sources from the Generalitat indicate that there will be another similar tender this month of November and that another one will be called in 2027. The machinery keeps the construction sector in a cycle of continuous activity that the PSC hopes to extend beyond the term. Investors are effectively buying a 50-year bond, with a return that the Generalitat complements to exceed 7%.

The model sets a rent per square metre of €10.65. For next year, this price will be updated to €11. The Department of Territory, led by Sílvia Paneque, has relied on Next Generation European funds as initial fuel: €161 million aimed at building 5,711 VPO rental homes. Of these, 3,820 homes have already been completed across 85 promotions, according to data from the Generalitat itself. More than 1,800 homes are still pending, which should be finished before the end of the year. Now this fuel is running out.

That is why Illa announced in the Parlament that he will meet with the three involved sectors.

"To put it clearly: to build homes, we need land, money, and companies; financing, banks, financial institutions; land, municipalities; companies, the construction sector. I will meet with the three sectors, calmly, to ask them to do more. Yes, yes, to ask them to do more."

The 'president' also reminded the banks of the public rescue during the great recession of 2008.

"In the great recession of 2008, when we had to go out from public institutions to help the financial sector, we did it. Everyone must play their part. I will ask the financial sector to study how to provide more financing to build more housing. I will ask the municipalities, and they will have the full support of the Generalitat, to make more land available without fear of transforming it."

Illa acknowledged another obstacle that the plan faces:

"We already know that there are people who, once they have housing, do not want other houses in front of theirs."

The total plan sums up to 50,000 homes and the 39,000 mentioned are only those in the most advanced phase. For the residents of the municipalities where the promotions will be built, the schedule indicates that the first homes with reserved land will start to be constructed from 2027.