Boost for social housing
Local and regional councils to create affordable homes
BENITACHELL has become the second local authority in Valencia region to implement a new protocol with the regional government to create more affordable homes.
Mayor Miguel Ángel García welcomed regional councillor for housing Rubén Martínez Dalmau to the Marina Alta to announce this move to increase the availability of social housing.
The project is aimed at ‘taking advantage’ of ‘skeletons’ developments that were started by constructors but left unfinished because of the collapse of Spain’s property bubble and the financial crisis.
And the plan allows local authorities to use the structures in a ‘sustainable way’; finishing projects for social housing or for other ways to benefit the local community.
It offers Benitachell ‘first refusal’ on uncompleted and empty buildings to finish as homes or to complete for an alternative use - preventing them from standing empty or becoming the property of socalled ‘vulture’ speculators.
Sr Marínez Dalmau was in Benitachell for the official presentation of the plan to convert the Capalletes building - an unfinished block of apartments standing on the main route into the town - into council offices and a state-ofthe-art tourist centre.
Valencia has made €500,000 of funds available under its ‘reconstructing towns’ programme - the building providing muchneeded space for the local authority and removing the eyesore.
The mayor thanked the regional government for the investment.
He said: “It is very important for us that you give us a hand; this would otherwise create a very large deficit for the town hall.”
Mr Martínez Dalmau underlined his commitment to helping the Marina Alta area as a whole and, in this case, Benitachell - saying it established ‘a collaboration that will last a long time’.