Madrid is on the verge of completing one of its longest-running and most symbolic urban development projects: Operation Campamento. After decades of deadlock and negotiations between government agencies, the City Council has definitively approved the urban development plan for a new neighborhood on the site of the former barracks in the southwest, comprising10,700 housing units, of which approximately 65% will be subject to some form of public housing protection. The project, now being driven by the public company SEPES and the state-owned entity Casa 47, has evolved from a long-stalled plan into the capital’s major front for affordable residential expansion.
The Campamento area covers approximately 2.11 million square meters of former military land historically linked to the Army barracks along the A-5 highway, in the Latina district. For decades, it has served as a large, underutilized space between established neighborhoods and the Extremadura highway, creating a physical and social barrier in southwestern Madrid.
10,700 homes, most of which will be subsidized
At the heart of the project are the 10,700 homes permitted under the planned residential development area of 1,134,994 square meters. According to the plan and the commitments made by the Ministry of Housing, the majority will be subsidized: around 65% (some 7,000 homes), divided among 3,800 Publicly Protected Homes with Price Limits (VPPL), 2,100 Basic Publicly Protected Homes (VPPB) for sale, and 1,100 publicly protected homes for rent. The remainder—about 3,700 units—will be market-rate housing, which means that the proportion of affordable housing is unusually high for projects of this scale in Madrid.
This structure makes Campamento one of the most significant public and affordable housing developments in Spain, with the explicit goal of expanding the public housing stock in an area where access to housing is particularly strained. Casa 47, the state-run housing agency, and SEPES are driving the initiative, with initial public funding for infrastructure development estimated at around 140 million euros and the prior purchase of the land from the Ministry of Defense for 272 million.
Phases, Timeline, and the City Council’s Role
The development will be carried out in three phases, which may be undertaken independently or as a group. Phases 1 and 2 cover the land to the south of the area and are intended to be developed jointly, while Phase 3 encompasses the plots located on both sides of the A-5 and to the north of the highway. At the same time, the City Council and the Ministry of Housing have linked the development of Campamento to the undergrounding of the second section of the A-5 up to Avenida de la Aviación, in order to reduce the highway’s barrier effect and improve connectivity with the rest of the city.
Here it is important to clarify a key point: the City Council is not the primary developer of the housing units, but rather the body that approves the zoning plan, the bylaws of the Compensation Board, and the urban development project. The residential initiative and the investment come from SEPES and the Ministry of Housing, which acquired the land in 2023 and are now pushing for construction to begin. In 2026, the demolition of the old barracks and announcements by the mayor and the Prime Minister signaled a breakthrough more than twenty years after the first agreement between the City Council and the Ministry of Defense.
Detailed delivery schedules and management specifics have yet to be finalized, but the final approval of the plan, the establishment of the Compensation Board, and the start of demolitions indicate that the project has moved from the rhetorical phase to the practical phase. From here on, the challenge will be to ensure that this blueprint translates into a vibrant neighborhood, with timely infrastructure, sustainable mobility , and affordable housing that fulfills its social purpose beyond the headlines.
