Second Vice-President and Minister of Housing and Bioclimatic Architecture, Hector IlluecaMet with Elena Cebrián, regional secretary for Regional Cohesion and Policies Against Depopulation, and executive director of the Valencia Anti-Depopulation Agenda (Avant), Jeanette Segarra, to convey to them the housing policies that Consell is developing to assist in the development of the Generalitat’s Valencian Depopulation Prevention Strategic Plan. Among these policies, the assistance program for the purchase of housing for young people in small municipalities or the Recuperem Llars program for the rehabilitation of municipal housing for social leasing are prominent. Illueca announced that in this legislature they allocated approx. 3.5 million aid to purchase housing for young people in rural municipalities with a population of less than 5,000 or in small population centers (villages, counties…) in small municipalities or at risk of depopulation in order to promote access to property ownership.
Also, this is 2022 increased the budget by 500 thousand eurosreached 1.5 million compared to last year. These grants
20% of the purchase price of the houseAccording to Consell sources, a maximum of 10,800 euros, provided that the purchase amount does not exceed 100,000 euros.
The vice-president assured him that “it is essential for inland municipalities to have an urban and built environment adapted to contemporary needs” to reverse depopulation. In this sense, the Second Vice Presidency makes available to municipalities a number of resources that offer opportunities to expand their public parks, such as the new Recuperem Llars call.
He also emphasized that the budget allocated for Recuperem Llars has increased from 1.4 million euros to 6.5 million euros, which means an increase in housing allocation in both acquisition and rehabilitation.
neighborhood law
In addition to these programs, the Ministry of Housing and Bioclimatic Architecture has other work that helps fight population decline. These include the preliminary draft of the Barrios Law under preparation, rent assistance for young people in small municipalities (850,000 euros), a commitment to expand the mass housing stock, and the strengthening of Xarxa Xaloc offices to provide services. comprehensive management, information, social mediation and advice on housing, building rehabilitation and urban regeneration.
In addition, the Sustainable Architecture and Innovation chairs in Housing and Circular Architecture and the New Green Transition Intercollegiate Chair include specific areas of study on depopulation and housing.
Héctor Illueca emphasized the importance played by all these lines of action since the 542 municipalities of the Community of Valencia, population of 215 is less than 1,000This is a 40% of Valencia municipalities at risk of depopulation. To this we must add that the poor condition of existing homes in these rural areas has resulted in a lack of buyers or tenants and a lack of interest from homeowners in improving their homes, given low profitability expectations.
Therefore, according to the same sources, the intervention of public administrations is essential for tackling depopulation in order to achieve the goals of Agenda 20-30. Through all these initiatives, Héctor Illueca concluded, “We have succeeded in making a direct impact on the revitalization of small towns while helping to solve one of the biggest problems that citizens have to face today – housing,” concluded Héctor Illueca.
The Regional Secretary reminded that “one of the issues that worries us the most” in the fight against depopulation is access to housing, and in this regard, he thanked the Ministry of Housing and Bioclimatic Architecture for its cooperation with the regional secretariat for Regional Cohesion. and to develop a joint policy with Avant to address this challenge, with specific guidelines on housing for these regions and “policies that will also be included in the Comprehensive Anti-Depopulation Law that we are working on.”