Today the Council of Ministers has finalized the distribution of 430 million European funds for the efficient rehabilitation of homes. The aid will be distributed to the autonomous communities with the objective of reaching, through the total program, 160,000 actions this year and 410,000 until June 2026. The funds are intended for changes, for example, of windows in a private home, digitization, installation of solar and photovoltaic panels, aerothermal energy or improvements to green areas.
The distribution of these 430 million had been announced for months and was even included in the General State Budgets for 2023. The funds will be distributed in proportion to the number of households in the 2020 Continuous Household Survey (INE) of each community. autonomous. Thus, Andalusia will receive 74 million; Catalonia, 69 million; the Community of Madrid, 60 million; and the Valencian Community, 46 million.
To this aid we must add another 450 million destined for tax incentives to rehabilitate homes. “Thanks to these incentives, which this ministry budgets and finances, anyone who carries out rehabilitation work on their home can deduct a part of its cost in their next personal income tax return,” recalled the head of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez.
The minister has given an example that reflects that a family could save up to 50% of the bill for an energy rehabilitation work by combining both programs. “Marta carries out a 5,000 euro project on her property to improve energy efficiency, meeting the requirement of a 7% reduction in heating and cooling consumption. She receives 40% aid, which corresponds to 2,000 euros. That is, she would only pay 3,000 euros. On those 3,000 euros she would also have a 20% personal income tax deduction, which would be 600 euros. Therefore, Marta would pay half of what she would have paid without this rehabilitation help,” Rodríguez pointed out.
The Ministry of Housing has also decided to distribute the funds for rehabilitation of homes that the autonomous communities do not take advantage of. Thus, if by December 31 the autonomies have not been able to resolve 75% of the planned projects or have not been able to prove the execution of half of them, the amounts corresponding to the aid for 2022 and 2023 that have not been transferred will be distributed again among the autonomous communities that have met the requirements. With this measure, the Government seeks to accelerate property rehabilitation projects.
Before the approval of European funds, Spain had one of the oldest housing stock in Europe. This situation, Minister Rodríguez has pointed out, is beginning to change. She has even pointed out that “there is more demand than we can meet.” Of the 3,500 million that make up the housing rehabilitation program, the Government has already distributed 2,211 million among the territories. Most of the autonomies are complying, although some are accumulating delays. They are Andalusia, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, Murcia, Ceuta and Melilla.
This afternoon the Government will also sign 44 agreements with 10 autonomous communities for the construction or rehabilitation of 3,233 homes to be used for affordable rentals. Of these, more than a third, 1,152 properties, will be made available to families in Catalonia.
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.
“The Ministry's objective was to build 20,000 homes by 2026 and, with the ones we will sign today, we will greatly exceed the commitment, since we will reach nearly 25,000 homes in different phases: agreed, under construction or already delivered,” explained Isabel. Rodriguez.
