One of the main battle horses of the Valencian government chaired by Carlos Mazón, such as the promotion of access to housing that has become an impossible mission for many people and families either in a rental or purchase regime for the rise in prices, it will not have this year with European funds for the first time since 2022.
This is reflected in the regional budgets recently presented by the Minister of the Treasury, Ruth Merino, who already warned of the downward modifications due to the disappearance of European funds after 1,194 million euros consigned in 2023 to the 302 million planned for this year.
And, in the case of housing, there are two clear criteria that are necessary to obtain funds such as constructions with energy efficiency criteria and that the promotions are destined for affordable rent without implying the loss of heritage for the administration.
In this sense, in the case of the Housing Department led by Susana Camarero, last year of different lines financed with European funds worth 157.4 million euros, aid that does not appear in the recently presented accounts. In 2023 they amounted to 113.7 million and in 2022 to 112.8 million. Among the projects with European financing that were in 2024, they stood out: “Financing of actions for rehabilitation at the building level and the improvement of energy efficiency in homes”, with 64.4 million euros; “Transfer for financing of rehabilitation actions at the neighborhood level”, worth 54.5 million euros; “Transfer for financing housing for social rental in energy buildings”, with 32.5 million euros.
The funds of the recovery and resilience (MRR) mechanism are valid from 2021 to 2026, so the absence of funds in this year. In this regard, from housing they have explained that these grants “are reflected once at the time that entry into the Generalitat accounts is recognized, so being transferred in 2024, it does not appear in the 2025 annuity.”
For her part, the socialist deputy, María José Salvador, has lamented “the cuts” in housing: “And regret the disappearance of the MRRs that have a framework of action 2021 – 2026. For this reason they have been budgeted since 2022 and now we see that they do not exist. The PP Consell renounces the European funds abandoning for example the construction housing for rent.”
As Eldiario.es already reported, the Housing Department has gone from giving plots to the promoters to build affordable rental housing that once reversed the generalitat assets to opt for the exchange for which the builder stays the ground in property in exchange for a number of homes without specifying. This paradigm shift may imply the loss of another 25 million euros of European aid.
From housing they justified the change in which the land transfer contests were deserted and ensured that European funds will be redirected to other actions aimed at promoting affordable social rent. However, in the 2025 budgets there is no departure financed with European funds.
As a whole, the Housing Department is endowed with 304 million euros, 21% less than in 2024 precisely for the loss of European funds. It is true that without those 157.4 million European funds that did appear in the past year, the assignment of the Ministry would have remained at 224.5 million, so that this year would be a 33% higher, as stressed since the administration.
Investments fall
The Ministry directed by Susana Camarero, which encompasses all social policies, registers 6.3% of the total budgeted by 2025, with a three billion amount. However, in the small letter, investments barely have weight in reconstruction accounts. The items of the Housing Social Function Law exceed 100 million euros, covered by capital transfers -public support -while the Housing and Quality Program and Innovation in the construction consists of 197.7 million, of which more than 150 are for transfers and 15 for personnel expenses. According to the budget detail, the real investments for housing policies are barely 50,000 euros, half that the previous year, in the heading of the Autonomous Secretariat of social function of the house and fall 3.6% in relation to quality and innovation in construction, where they are 7.1 million euros. Current transfers, where direct aid to buy, rent or pay agreements, grow 70%.
Part of the explanation to these figures must be sought in income. Virtually all the budget for housing comes from funds from the State or the European Social Fund, with already marked programs and an important weight of transfers, such as the rental bonus. In own financing, the Executive of Carlos Mazón barely has the 8 million euros that are planned to enter the empty housing tax, which established together we can in his stage in the Consell del Botanic with PSPV and Compromís. In the income chapter of this department it is observed how most of the 44 million in revenues come from programs of the State Housing Plan. Of the European Social Fund (2022-2027) an income of 1,007,980 euros is foreseen.
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