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Jesús Hinojosa / SUR
Malaga
Friday, 20 September 2024, 12:07
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Spain's national minister of housing, Isabel Rodríguez, said in Malaga this week that public authorities from central government downwards were not doing enough to overcome the chronic shortage of affordable homes, with very few being built in recent years.
"It is a real drama that school teachers and nurses have to share flats in the big cities because rent would eat up 80% of their salaries," explained the minister at the national housing conference held in Malaga.
The head of the APCE national association of developers and builders, Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado, called at the same conference for bold moves. "Society needs a national alliance on housing and land. Those in power need to put in place real and honest initiatives. That means not only a legal framework but also keeping going on financing plans and tax policies," he said, adding that "these days artificial intelligence means we can design a new development in ten hours, yet government takes ten years to develop a piece of land".
Gómez-Pintado explained, "This is a problem that has not even begun yet. We have to offer a dramatic solution." In separate comments to SUR, Gómez-Pintado said help to build affordable homes had been withdrawn since 2008.
The housing minister accepted that what the constructors were saying at the meeting was true and said she wanted "a great national alliance". However she added that the solution to the problem "needs much more than a classic national agreement [between political parties]. This time a national pact has to come with empathy and a social commitment". She asked business to get more involved as " the problem affects all of us".
Up to 50 people on average apply for the few flat shares coming up in Malaga city at the moment, according to property portal Idealista. Rival website Fotocasa has reported a 66% rise in the price of rooms in shared flats in Malaga city over the last three years, double that recorded in Andalucía as a whole (33.6%).
Costa towns are starting to talk more about social housing provision. While in Malaga, the housing minister joined other officials in starting the construction of 530 affordable flats, known as VPOs (Viviendas de Protección Oficial), in the Teatinos area of the city.
Meanwhile, Benalmádena has started looking for land to build 200 affordable VPO homes, three decades after the last ones were put up in that municipality.
In Estepona, the council has changed its master town plan this week to allow up to 700 affordable homes in the Arroyo Vaquero and Guadalobón areas.
A project of 84 VPO homes is also to be started in San Pedro Alcántara early next year. And the approval of a new development in El Palo, Malaga, has also been announced this week of which 144 homes will be affordable.
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