The mayor of Madrid and candidate of the Popular Party (PP) for re-election, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has announced this Friday that if he revalidates the position he will promote the construction of 12,000 new homes, of which 50% will be allocated to young people and young families, “thus helping one of the groups with the greatest problems in access to housing and increasing their chances of emancipation and starting their own life project by facilitating affordable housing ”. It is the mayor’s counterweight to the tone that the PSOE has given to the electoral campaign, after the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced that Sareb was going to mobilize 50,000 social and affordable apartments.

To carry out his electoral promise, Almeida has explained that public-private collaboration formulas will be used, such as the transfer of surface rights. Of all the homes, 500 built on endowment plots will be dedicated to new formulas such as cohousing or the coliving.

On the other hand, he advanced that one of his first actions will be to request “a legislative modification to the Government to fight against the squatting of homes and other types of property, which allows measures such as eviction to be carried out within 24 hours, which Squatters do not have the right to be included in the municipal register and that the owners who are victims of occupation are exempt from paying the IBI during the duration of the occupation”. A nod from the mayor to the strategy led by Javier Ortega Smith, far-right candidate for the Madrid City Council, who has uploaded videos to his social networks in which he threatens squatters in buildings in Carabanchel to return to evict them if they takes office in the elections on May 28.

Almeida made these announcements during a meeting with representatives of the compensation boards of new urban developments, the construction sector and housing cooperatives held at the Official College of Architects of Madrid. The Popular Party also proposes to act on buildings in ruins or in poor condition, especially in downtown neighborhoods, to proceed with their rehabilitation and allocate them to subsidized housing.

Likewise, it is promised to manage through the competent area of ​​Social Services 10% of municipal housing, which may be used exclusively and with professionalized social care, for the most vulnerable groups. This measure, says the PP, will improve access to housing for those most in need and the care they receive. In addition, the management of housing bags for families in an emergency situation or evicted due to extraordinary need will be guaranteed.

Likewise, formulas will be established to continue with the rental programs. Among others, the acquisition of homes in the private secondary market for their incorporation into the public pool of municipal rental housing. In this way, Almeida valued the work carried out by the PP from Cibeles during the last four years, in which “the greatest effort in the history of the City Council has been made in terms of construction of public housing to allocate it to affordable rent ”.

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