The Council of Ministers announced this Tuesday the transfer of land and prison infrastructure from the Ministry of the Interior, for the construction of 1,332 protected and affordable homes. The measure will affect eight locations in Huesca, Zaragoza, Madrid, Córdoba, Seville, Denia, Segovia and Burgos, and represents another step in the creation of the public housing stock in Spain.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, has explained that the land and facilities, currently owned by the Ministry of the Interior, will be transferred to Sepes, the public land entity, with the aim of allocating them to affordable residential use. What were “cells” will become “homes,” said Rodríguez.
The estimated value of all the lands transferred is around 78 million euros, although, as specified by the minister, the Ministry of Housing will not assume that cost thanks to a financial gateway similar to that used with Sareb’s assets.
More public land for affordable housing
This transfer joins other measures underway to expand the public housing stock, such as the transfer of military land (including 17 former barracks) and the integration of Sareb assets, which will provide some 40,000 homes and 2,400 land.
One of the most notable projects will be the old Carabanchel prison, in Madrid, where 508 homes will be built on an area of 27,000 square meters. This initiative highlights the the minister’s concern about the housing situation in the Community of Madridwhere he assures that “if he had a majority he would raise a 155 to intervene in the competition.”
Isabel Rodríguez has stressed that all these actions will be integrated into the future public housing company, whose development is accelerating. In addition to aiming to consolidate a model of access to housing based on the right and not on speculation. “Our goal is to have the public housing stock as soon as possible to guarantee that right and that is the drive with which we are working through the new public housing company,” he added.