The plan to mobilize almost 50,000 homes from Sareb (the bad bank that absorbed the assets of the old savings banks) for social rental needs time to become a reality. The central part of the strategy that Nadia Calviño has informed the Council of Ministers today focuses on the nearly 21,000 homes that are built and available so that the autonomous communities and town halls can promote, prior agreement with the entity, those leases affordable. 9,000 of them are ready to be sold, but there are another 12,000 that need some kind of reform to be able to be inhabited, as explained by the first vice president. That is to say, they need to be reformed, some coat of paint or they have a problem of humidity or electrical installation, issues that will imply an investment.
There are a total of 20,768 homes identified for social use that will be mobilized through two channels: sales agreements to the autonomous communities and town halls, and temporary assignment agreements to territorial administrations or non-profit entities with the aim of solving problems depopulation and meet the needs of vulnerable groups.
The territorial distribution of these almost 21,000 Sareb homes available for social rental, as reported by the Ministry of Economy, is as follows: 4,950 are in the Valencian Community; 3,539 are in Catalonia; 2,288, in Castilla y León; 2,093, in Murcia; 2,040, in Andalusia; 1,534, in Castilla-La Mancha; and 1,285 in Galicia. They are properties from the old savings banks that Sareb was trying to sell, mainly to individuals, but was unable to.
Below 1,000 homes available for social rent are Cantabria, with 611; Aragon, with 580; Madrid, with 455; La Rioja, with 388; Extremadura, with 305; Canary Islands, with 303; Asturias, with 171; Balearic Islands, with 120; Basque Country, with 81; and Navarra, with 25. There is no property in Ceuta and Melilla.
Sareb has been working on this plan for months and, in fact, has already signed agreements for the sale of social rental housing with the Valencian Community, Galicia or the Madrid city council. It is also negotiating an important agreement with the Generalitat de Catalunya, as well as with the Community of Madrid, the Junta de Castilla y León and the Torrelavega town hall.
In addition to these 21,000 homes, Sareb has 14,000 already inhabited properties. Some of them are busy. At this time, in fact, the entity is working to identify the vulnerable families that live in them and offer them a social rental program and labor accompaniment. A Sareb team helps them find a job or apply for the minimum vital income, among other aspects. At this moment there are more than 400 families served by this program and more than 2,000 social rental contracts have been approved since it began last September.
The third pillar of Sareb's plan affects the available developable land and those pending construction. Economy calculates that some 15,000 more homes for affordable rental can be built. This process will take years and will be developed through public-private collaboration. The old bad bank will also offer public administrations the sale of land for other social purposes such as the construction of hospitals, schools or courts.
"It is very important to highlight that social rent contributes to recovering the value of assets by making it easier for its inhabitants to have a better economic situation and thus stabilize rent payments," the First Vice President highlighted today. “Housing is one of the main concerns of citizens; the public housing stock is essential to respond to this challenge”, added Calviño.
