The municipal government of José Luis Martínez-Almeida approved this Thursday the municipal budget for the year 2025, “realistic” and “prudent” accounts, as the councilor, who was accompanied by the vice mayor, subsequently announced at a press conference. Inmaculada Sanz and the head of Economy and Finance, Engracia Hidalgo. As announced, the budgeted will allow the capital’s council to have “more than 6,000 million euros”, specifically 6,277 million euros for next year, 5.7% more than the previous year.
In total, last year’s budget – the first with an absolute majority of the PP –, once the public sector was included, then amounted to 7,126 million euros. Now they put it at a total of 7,558 million. Almeida himself has boasted that they will have 895 million more to invest in all areas, “the highest figure since 2019”, and has stressed that the budgets “comply with fiscal rules.”
The item that increases the most is that of Urban Planning, Mobility and Environment, which will have 9.2% more than in 2024 since it will have to carry out large works such as the burying of the A-5, the final section of the Paseo de la Castellana, or the coverage of the M-30 at the height of Ventas.
The Housing area is one of the items that has caused the most controversy. Specifically, the spokesperson for Más Madrid, Rita Maestre, denounced this Thursday in her profile on the three leaders of the PP, “suffer a 40% cut: from 123.2 million in 2024 to 77.1 by 2025.”
“This means 50 million less in the only City Council body that carries out housing policies in the city of Madrid.” And it was abundant: “For the purchase of homes, the Madrid City Council is only going to allocate 4.3 million, 2 million euros less than in 2024. They leave the way clear for speculators to continue buying homes and reduce the capacity of the administration to offer housing,” Maestre denounced, later providing a long thread with more data.
Shortly after, both the City Council and Más Madrid have clarified this wording that it is about what is budgeted to build “affordable rental” apartments through the Housing Company and not, as initially said, it is a cut in the total budget of the EMVS. Sources from this municipal public company tell elDiario.es that “the contribution made by the Madrid City Council to the EMVS goes from almost 123 in the 2024 budgets to 128.2 million euros in 2025. It is 6.5 million more than last year.” “The majority of this contribution, 74.2 million, will be for the construction of new construction and almost 50 million to cover the company’s operating expenses.”
Maestre’s data is “false”, they say in the EMVS
“Therefore – these sources add – it is false that the contribution of the capital’s council to the municipal company is going to be cut by 40%, since it goes from 121 million euros in 2024 to 128 million euros in 2025.” They also clarify that “with these 128 million euros, the EMVS Madrid budget amounts to 168 million in 2025, with which it will be able to complete 11 new developments, with 865 homes” for “affordable rental.”
“In the next year 2025, the municipal company will reach a heritage of 10,000 public housing units under an affordable rental regime. A fact that Rita Maestre questions, but which is as easy to verify as doing a simple sum, since EMVS Madrid currently has nearly 9,000 public apartments under its belt. In addition, with this budget it will also be possible to continue the works and the bidding of more than twenty developments (3,100 homes) and the Suma Vivienda Plan will begin to build another 2,200 apartments under the surface right regime, through public collaboration. -private, in the new urban developments in the southeast of the capital,” they conclude.
The same EMVS sources later add that “despite the fact that the contribution of the Madrid City Council increases from 121 million to 128 million, the EMVS Madrid budget goes from 205 million euros in 2024 to 168 million euros in 2025 ( a decrease of 18%). This decrease is due to the fact that in 2025, in an accounting manner, the construction of homes will be undertaken in different phases, which causes a specific decrease in the budget (the budget for a year in which many homes are completed is not the same as another in which the one in which the tender begins)”. “In addition, it must be taken into account that in 2025 land worth almost 50 million euros has been allocated to the EMVS Madrid Suma Housing Plan tender, under a public-private collaboration regime, which will allow the construction of 2,200 homes, and which, in addition, will save Madrid residents construction costs.”
“In this way – they emphasize – the hoax that the opposition tries to spread is false: neither the investment effort of the Madrid City Council is reduced, nor the pace of construction. The data is there and shows that never, anyone, in the history of the Madrid City Council has done so much for affordable public housing than the Almeida government,” they say, also highlighting that “the current government team has increased the assets of the municipal company by 44%, going from the 6,258 that Manuela Carmena left to the almost 9,000 public homes that it currently owns. Since, in these five years of mandate, 30 developments have been completed with more than 2,478 new homes. “It is the commitment of this government team to increase the affordable rental housing stock left by the previous corporation by 150%, until it exceeds 15,000 homes in the next 4 years,” they say.
Arguments of Más Madrid
Más Madrid in turn clarifies to this editorial team that its data is based “on the EMVS budget that was approved on October 30 by its Board of Directors, and that will form part of the consolidated budget of the City Council. Focusing on the City Council’s contribution to the EMVS is of little use if the EMVS is not going to allocate that money to build public housing.” “What we are saying is that the EMVS budget for housing construction has been reduced by 40%. For the promotion of rental homes and the acquisition of homes and plots, in times of housing emergency in the city of Madrid, the budget is reduced from 144.7 million in 2024 to 87 by 2025. Specifically, for the construction of new developments The budget is reduced from 123.2 million in 2024 to 77.1 million in 2025,” the same sources highlight.
In their appearance before the press, both Almeida and Hidalgo have insisted that Housing is one of the priorities of their Government team and have highlighted the “consolidation” of the Municipal Housing Company as the “main” promoter of public housing in Spain”. According to the councilor, work is being done on three fronts: ”Construction, rehabilitation and urban regeneration.” The intention of the council is to develop the “ReViVa Program” or the “We buy your home” to reach a heritage of 10,000 homes by the end of 2025, which will be used for “affordable rentals”. Urban developments in the southeast of the capital, or Madrid Nuevo Norte, will also be undertaken with Operation Chamartín.
The plans are to also complete the works on eleven housing developments, with a total of 865 new properties. Among them those projected in Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles 3; Cañaveral 7, Cañaveral 8, Cañaveral 9, Cañaveral 10, Cañaveral 11, Cañaveral 12, Cañaveral 13; Los Olivos 3, Los Olivos 4 and Vallecas 62. “The EMVS Madrid will also continue the tendering of works and projects for more than twenty developments (3,100 homes,” says the City Council. The Housing area also wants to promote plans already announced for the rehabilitation of properties such as the Transforma Madrid Strategy, the Adapta Plan, the Rehabilita Plan and the Transform Your Neighborhood Plan. Last year they committed to rehabilitate 22,000 homes during this year.
The regeneration of various neighborhoods is also projected, within the Strategic Neighborhood Regeneration Plan (PERBaM), including six works in the districts of Villaverde, Villa de Vallecas, Moratalaz, Carabanchel, Latina and Hortaleza, and “twelve will be drafted “new projects in vulnerable neighborhoods.”
Regarding social spending for 2024, it has been set at 1,130 million euros, that is, only 3 million less than in 2023. Almeida’s team boasts that this year will be the “most investor of the last 16 years.” Last year, the municipal government highlighted that this social spending increased by 79 million to 1,133 million euros, “7.5% more than in 2022.” Now they have preferred to highlight that “social spending per inhabitant will be 326 euros, 30% more than in 2019.”
Taxes go down despite the “hack” of the garbage rate
In his speech, the mayor assured that despite the “hack” of the Government of Pedro Sánchez “with the garbage rate”, this year the City Council also continues to lower taxes and fees, such as the IBI rate, which according to Hidalgo will save 31 million of euros to Madrid taxpayers. In 2024 the reduction was 40.3 million euros in taxes and fees and the return of the capital gains tax. Despite everything, the person in charge of the Treasury has ruled that in Madrid she will be able to “finance her current expenses with the income, which shows the solvent situation of the Madrid City Council.”
The councilor has not spared positive qualifiers for his accounts, since he believes that the budgets are “ambitious” and will “generate greater growth for the city” and will promote “better quality of life” for its inhabitants because they maintain “social cohesion.” ”
Regarding the debt, Almeida has minimized the data, since “it continues to be below 2,000 million euros” and has recalled that the City Council “does not assume any volume of debt for what are non-financial expenses.” “There will be an increase of 40 million in debt included in next year’s budget for the purchase of the shareholding in Calle 30, which will be practically recovered in the first year,” explained the mayor.
The budgets recently approved by the municipal government now enter a period of arguments and amendments before being presented to the last municipal plenary session of the month of December so that they can come into force at the beginning of January 2025. Almeida has committed to calling the municipal groups to “talk” and “reach out to them”, with the guarantee that they will take into account “the amendments that improve the project: “We are not sectarian nor are we closed to improving the budgets,” he stated.
*RECTIFICATION: In a first version of this article the headline said that Almeida had reduced the budget of the Madrid Housing Company by 40%. Minutes later, both the capital’s City Council and Más Madrid have clarified to elDiario.es that this reduction is only for items intended for affordable rentals, which is why the aforementioned headline has been modified.
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