The central government has not responded to the offer of land that the city council made six months ago to build 109 affordable housing units

The City Council made six municipal plots available to the national government for inclusion in its announced initiative to boost the housing supply in Spain

The Estepona City Council is still awaiting a response from the Spanish government after making six municipal lots available for the construction of 109 affordable housing units in the city. The City Council’s initiative, which was approved by the full council six months ago, has not received a response, leaving it unclear whether the central government will accept the land.

These are plots of land suitable for social housing projects located in areas such as Casas del Padrón, Llanos de la Boladilla, and Camino de Cortes. The municipal proposal, submitted earlier this year, was in response to the Spanish government’s announcement at that time to mobilize up to 23,000 million euros in public and private funds to boost the housing supply, and to finance the construction of 15,000 units per year in Spain through the “España Crece” fund.

The mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano, explained that, in light of that announcement, the City Council, “based on the legal principle of collaboration between administrations,” made these available plots in Estepona available to the central government “so that, following the appropriate assessment, they may be considered for the construction of the announced housing units, thereby allowing Estepona to benefit from this measure announced by the government.” In this way, the mayor indicated, “we aim to help the government expedite the processing of its project so that our city, too, can participate in it.”

However, six months later, the City Council does not know whether or not the central government is willing to accept the land made available to it and to promote the construction of these housing units, as there has been no communication on the matter with the City Council.

The plots made available to the central government are part of a land reserve that the City Council has been working on to launch various initiatives aimed at providing the municipality with new affordable housing units. These consist of two plots in the Casas del Padrón area, for 22 and 23 affordable housing units; two others in Llanos de la Boladilla, for 9 and 17 units; and two plots on Camino de Cortes, for 17 and 21 units.

Since 2011, one of the municipal government’s priorities has been to implement measures designed to facilitate access to housing for individuals and groups facing the greatest difficulties in doing so. As a result of these policies, approximately 100 social housing units (VPO) have been built and delivered in the Juan Benítez area, in the northern part of the city.

Currently, after years of work to secure land that will allow for the expansion of the social housing stock, other mechanisms are being put in place through which the city will be able to provide more than 1,200 housing units. In this regard, short-term initiatives are already in place, and the first VPO units for the Camino de Cortes area are currently out to bid. Additionally, the Vimpyca Foundation is in the process of obtaining construction permits for 117 housing units on two lots located on Camino de Cortes Sur.