Madrid will have more affordable housing with the tendering of more than 600 new apartments in the developments of Los Ahijones and Los Berrocales, in the district of Vicálvaro, within the second phase of the Suma Vivienda Plan. This City Hall program, announced yesterday by the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, will be executed on 13 plots of land through public-private partnerships and is in addition to the more than 1,600 apartments that are already under construction thanks to the first phase.
The vast majority of the new apartments will be built in Los Ahijones (approximately 400) and the rest in Los Berrocales, areas that will undergo a radical transformation after years of waiting for the arrival of facilities and residents. Municipal estimates calculate that this second phase will benefit close to 1,600 Madrid residents and generate close to 9,500 jobs, adding construction and operation over the 70 years of the public concession, after which the homes will become municipal property.
One of the key innovations is the extension of the IPREM (Indicador Público de Renta de Efectos Múltiples) access threshold to some 66,000 euros per household per year, allowing many middle-income citizens, who were excluded from traditional social housing and the free market, to access a rent limited to 30% of their family income. Thus, the plan covers the spectrum of Madrid’s “middle class” and responds to a priority social emergency in the city and in Spain, according to Almeida and the Housing Delegate, Álvaro González.
600 new affordable rental homes in Madrid
The collaboration model foresees that the awarded companies will assume the construction and subsequent operation of the properties, under an affordable rental regime (without purchase option). Madrid already has the largest public rental stock in Spain, with more than 9,400 homes according to the Ministry of Housing, and EMVS is responsible for a third of all newly built affordable housing in the country .
The transformation of Los Ahijones and Los Berrocales is not only urbanistic: it brings new green areas, educational and health facilities. The Suma Vivienda Plan also plans to launch its third phase before the end of the term.