The Generalitat de Catalunya is looking for the complicity of the private sector to build public flats for rent. The Catalan Administration will transfer plots of land it owns to companies in the sector so that they will be in charge of building the new homes on their land. The initiative will start in Esplugues de Llobregat, a city in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, a region where the lack of affordable housing is an urgent problem. This was announced yesterday by the Minister of Territory, Ester Capella, from this town.
The first three parcels owned by Incasòl – a body dependent on the Generalitat – will go out to tender now in December. They are located in the Montesa Strategic Residential Area (ARE) sector, the next urban development of Esplugues, where workers have been seen working for months.
Up to 341 homes can be built on the Incasòl lots, which will be transferred to companies under a surface rights regime. For 75 years, private individuals will have the right to build and exploit the promotions of officially protected rental flats. After this time, the homes will form part of the Generalitat's public park.
Beyond Esplugues, the Government's aim is to reach more than 1,000 public flats for rent through this type of public-private collaboration. In fact, similar projects are being prepared in Cerdanyola del Vallès, Begues and la Seu d'Urgell with a capacity of around 400 flats. It's all part of the various plans of the Generalitat, which promises to add 10,000 new homes to the public rental stock in three years.
"It is always important to join with the participation of public administrations, but also of civil society, which is part of the economic engine of the country and which allows us to transform and build a Catalonia for everyone", said Capella. "With the transfer to private operators, what we are doing is speeding up the construction of affordable housing", he added. "The aim is to place Catalonia at the level of social housing in Europe", said the Minister of Territory.
In the area of Esplugues, the specifications of the public tender establish that the price cannot exceed an economic effort of more than 30% of the income of the cohabitation unit. In other words, rent will be affordable for the families who live there. The Department of Territory will work to ensure that the rest of the promotions in this mode of public-private collaboration also meet this requirement.
The mayor of Esplugues, Pilar Díaz, claimed that ARE Montesa is an opportunity to consolidate her city as a "metropolitan center". According to the Council, 2,105 homes will be built in this sector over the next few years. More than half, 1,059, will be protected. And of the public, 70% will be marketed on a rental basis.
The Montesa neighborhood will have about eleven hectares and its name comes from the historic motorcycle factory. Located where Rayo Amarillo's old soccer field used to be, the neighborhood plan was first approved in 2009, but was updated in 2019. In addition to financing equipment such as a new headquarters for the local police, the City Council will promote 90 homes under official general regime protection. It is one of the most important planning and housing operations scheduled in the metropolitan area of Barcelona.
