For the first time, the Government of Catalonia is facing the challenge of affordable rental housing, transforming urbanism in order to serve the interests of all citizens and not just those of land owners. The Department of Territory, through the Catalan Soil Institute (Incasòl) and the Catalan Housing Agency, has the task of promoting the construction of 10,000 homes this year to increase the public rental housing stock and build sustainable neighborhoods of the future
Rethinking the urban planning of sectors in cities such as Lleida, Sant Cugat, Figueres, Abrera or Lliçà d'Amunt and classifying them as new can help to recover the idea of a Catalonia articulated in a network, with important universities located outside Barcelona and new networks of resources fundamentals, such as trains and water.
What resources do we have? There are many tenants who are unaware that the deposit they deposit in the Incasòl is used, by law, for the construction of affordable housing. The Incasòl is capable of keeping 60% of the rental deposits in deposit, and many more in the future. This year, it is estimated that it will be able to invest around 100 million euros in the production of affordable housing. With these resources, this year more than 2,000 apartments will be programmed in 43 actions in cities such as Granollers, Reus, Girona, Malgrat de Mar, Figueres, Mollet... A part of these homes will innovate with prefabricated methods and sustainable materials, generating activity and I employ technicians, installers, carpenters, laborers and craftsmen of the 21st century.
An extraordinary sensitivity is expected from the architecture teams to design sustainable projects and expansions of dignified and integrated cities such as the Torresana neighborhood in Terrassa, open to the green of Torrebonica, or the Ronda Masia Nueva neighborhood in Sant Pere de Ribes, with designs passive and very careful to improve the surrounding squares and streets.
Incasòl also accumulates land reserves that, in collaboration with municipalities, private developers and cooperatives, will be constituted as surface rights for the construction of affordable apartments, such as the old Montesa factory in Esplugues, the Parc de l'Alba neighborhood in Cerdanyola or Drinks
Unfortunately, hundreds of bricked-up buildings and flats or concrete skeletons that were partially left behind in the latest housing crisis can still be seen in Catalan cities. At Incasòl we have proposed, in the very short term, to acquire buildings that have been empty for years, from owners who have not been able to invest, from banks or from Sareb in order to accommodate families that are now in the Taula d'Emergència . Mobilizing these flats from the empty housing stock now allows, at the same time, to rehabilitate urban centers before transforming rustic land.
The new generation of affordable flats will help the young to emancipate themselves, the elderly to age with dignity and families to have a social cushion in a time when the environment is very volatile. The house, affordable, is the basis of personal stability and the material of which fair cities are made.
Public investment in land and housing policies should not be considered a waste, but rather an investment.
The gears of producing affordable housing have to be put back on track. In addition to being a constitutional right, the construction of affordable housing is essential to preserve the urban identity of Catalonia.
