Pablo Arranz
The Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Planning, María Martínez Allegue, has once again requested an «urgent meeting» with the Government and the Official Credit Institute (ICO), to which she attributes the change in conditions regarding social housing rentals that had been accepted by the cooperative members of Xuxán, with whom she met this afternoon in Santiago and whom she thanked for the «cordial atmosphere and constructive attitude.»
«The reason for this meeting stems from the unacceptable situation in which 250 families currently find themselves, as they see the conditions of the ICO loans they supposedly had and had been negotiating within the cooperative for almost a year suddenly changed,» summarized the Minister in statements to the media this Tuesday, the day on which she sent a new letter with this request.
The Ministry of Housing had already sent another letter last week addressed to the Minister of this matter, Isabel Rodríguez, requesting an «urgent meeting» between the ICO, both public administrations, and the affected cooperative.
This funding referred to by Allegue is linked to the signing of an agreement between the central Government and the ICO for 4 billion euros in European funding «to address these housing developments.» This amount, as the regional official recounted, is in addition to another 2 billion euros in state contribution «to supposedly guarantee 50% of these developments.»
«In total, 6 billion euros, of which our autonomous community is completely unaware of its destination,» criticized Allegue. She also recalled that the construction would have to be completed before August 2026 to meet the conditions to which the funding is subject.
On the other hand, for the cooperative members, the goal is to have their housing «at a social rental price, nothing more than that,» in the words of José Luis Allegue, one of the affected individuals.
«We want everyone, if it depends on the ICO, for both the Xunta and the Central Government to meet, talk, and obtain funding that can implement this model, which can be pioneering,» requested the cooperative member. «But if this model doesn’t work right now, unfortunately, I don’t think it can continue,» he added.
CRITICISM OF THE XUNTA
On the other hand, the Government Delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, and the Mayor of A Coruña, Inés Rey, rejected this Tuesday that this change in conditions is due to the ICO. When asked about this, Allegue called for being «on the same common front» and defended her position: «From the Xunta de Galicia, we auctioned off surface rights at an almost giveaway price because the goal is to build protected housing and affordable rental housing.»
Furthermore, she emphasized that the funding granted to the Galician Government «was processed and executed,» and part of that money was obtained «not only by these cooperative members but also by the A Coruña City Council.»
Questioned again about the responsibility for this change in conditions, she insisted that the «conditions are of the ICO loans,» which «are not standard loans» and «have financing conditions that must be manageable for the context we are talking about.» She also noted that other cooperatives «in the same situation» have already contacted the Xunta.
Likewise, the leader of the BNG, Ana Pontón, described these homes as a «scam» and criticized the Xunta for «giving away public land to a management company from Madrid.» When asked about these opposition criticisms, she criticized the bringing up of «political squabbles that are irrelevant.»
«Obviously, this is a public tender with completely transparent public bases that was awarded to the winner of that public tender, regardless of whether they are from Madrid, Extremadura, Galicia, or La Rioja,» defended the Minister of Housing.
