Errenteria, the first Basque municipality to formally request LFA status

The municipal council of Errenteria on Tuesday approved at the local government council a request to the Basque government to declare the town of Gipuzkoan as a stressed residential market area, once the necessary documents to submit the formal request have been completed.

In this way, it will be the first municipality to formally request the council to activate this mechanism, which, among other things, makes it possible to regulate rental prices.

The Errenteria Municipal Council has pointed out that although the growth in the number of housing units has been proportional to the increase in the population in Errenteria in the past 10 yearsthe diagnosis carried out on the situation of the housing market in the municipality confirmed the existence of “a special risk of insufficient housing supply, since, in addition, there is a very small vacant housing stock (5.5%) despite “if the second home has been reduced (7.7%)”.

Population growth (more than 5%), together with “less intensive use of the housing stock as a result of the aging population and the current dynamics (62% of households consist of 1 or 2 people)”, are putting “pressure on the demand that translates into an increase in house prices.”

The city council has emphasized that this situation ‘is exacerbated by the pressure that the high cost of housing also exerts on the region metropolitan area Donostiawhich in turn pushes young people to other surrounding municipalities,” such as Errenteria.

Due to the gradual increase in house prices, the number of homes increased in 2011 rent has grown by 73% in Errenteria over the past ten years, but also that ‘the difficulties in paying rent on the open market are becoming more apparent, as evidenced by the high demand for sheltered housing in Etxebide by already emancipated families, who require sheltered housing to search’. housing to reduce their monthly effort in paying rent.

The city council has reminded that the platform STOP evictions presented a motion during the July 2023 Municipal Plenary Meeting, calling on the Errenteria Municipal Council to urge the Basque Government to declare the municipality a stress zone, in accordance with Housing Law 12/2023. The motion was adopted by a large majority.

The request for declaration of a stress zone also includes: Municipal Housing Plan for the next three years. This plan of measures was developed together with the Housing Department of the Basque government. In this sense, further expanding the social housing stock, in consultation with the executive, is one of the most important strategic measures included in the plan.