25 flats acquired by the government from large tenants will become social housing for young people.
Armengol: “We are launching an absolutely innovative measure that once again puts us at the forefront of housing policy”.
The Government is launching a public housing stock specifically for young people through which it will allocate 50% of the flats acquired from large tenants on a first-come, first-served basis. The President of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, and the Councillor for Mobility and Housing, Josep Marí, visited one of the 25 homes that currently make up the stock and where tenants under the age of 35 could move in within two months.
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During the visit, the President explained that through this exchange, which will be updated as new homes are added to the public housing stock, “an IBAVI Jove is being set up”, with “measures aimed at young people so that they can find out what answers they have to their problems”. In fact, Armengol recalled that the future youth law of the Balearic Islands incorporates the obligation to allocate 15% of new housing developments to young people, and the Government has anticipated the existence of this law by putting it into effect with an HPO development in Inca.
The president has defined the specific housing stock for young people as an “absolutely innovative policy that once again puts us at the forefront of housing policy” and has assured that in the Govern “we are aware that the right to housing is a right regulated by the Constitution that is often not fulfilled”, but that “we have always thought that housing has to be the fifth pillar of the Welfare State” and for this reason the Balearic Islands are at the forefront in the approval of measures aimed at protecting access to housing.
Of the 25 flats in the stock exchange, all in Mallorca, 23 have been acquired from large landlords and two from private individuals. The other half of the flats obtained by first refusal, as well as those obtained temporarily through transfer of use, will be agreed with institutions or entities to be used for social purposes.
The following requirements are necessary to access a home from the specific pool for young people: all members of the cohabitation unit must be under 35 years of age, have Spanish nationality or a residence permit, have lived in the Balearic Islands for a year or more and have a certain level of income, which in the case of a single person, for example, means that it must be more than 8,355 euros a year and less than 29,243 euros. In addition, beneficiaries must be registered in the Register of applicants for public housing before 21 September 2021.
Based on the list of applicants, the IBAVI has created a pool for those under 35 years of age, without requiring a specific procedure for young people. The list will be published this Thursday and from this week the procedure to request documentation and start the awarding process will begin. In addition, it also includes the awarding of 15% of the homes in an HPO development in Inca, which will be finished by the end of the year.
Investment in housing
The President highlighted the work done by the Government in recent years in the area of housing, which has allowed the public housing stock to increase by 64% in two years and the incorporation of more than 1,100 flats. In addition, Armengol recalled that the future Youth Law will include a commitment to allocate 15% of the housing in new developments to young people, and the Government is already applying this measure to developments such as the one in Inca, where 54 homes will be completed by the end of the year.
At the same time, Armengol has demanded the approval of a state housing law to limit rental prices and has stated that the Govern “is committed to applying the new regulations and declaring all the islands as a stressed area within the margin that the law allows us to do so”.