The City of Vitoria-Gasteiz is nearing the end of the housing ordinance on the slabs, with limited prices and measures to avoid speculation

The City of Vitoria-Gasteizis about tofinalize the ordinance that will allow housing to be made available in premises located at the street level, which will have to be priced and allocated to habitual and permanent homes, prohibiting other uses in order to avoid speculation.

This has been one of the innovations announced by the Socialist Mayor, Maider Etxebarria, in the area of housing; not for nothing, this is one of the concerns of the Vitorians and Vitorians. This has been discussed, among other things, in the fourth and final General Debate on Municipal Policy of the Legislature.

This Ordinance shall exclude the areas of the Medieval Centre, Ensanche and various areas of the Arriaga, Salburua and Zabalgana, as well as the main arteries of the city. Authorized premises shall accumulate at least seven years from the date of obtaining the first occupation licence, and may be granted mixed use, i.e. as housing and as a workshop for economic activities.

These street dwellings shall, inter alia, be subject to a permanent regime of protection against future transmissions, with the Administration having preference for purchase or retraction, and shall be used for permanent residence and registered in Etxebide for purchase and sale.

The price of these homes will be VPOs under the general regime, for example, a 45-square-metre house will have a maximum price of 109,000 euros and a 90-square-metre house will have a maximum price of 198,806 euros.

The mayor has stressed that during his term of office, construction licences have been granted for 3,074 dwellings, of which 1,393 are protected, 1,011 are free and 670 are assessed, and has announced that he will shortly conclude an agreement with the Basque Government to build another 1,200 dwellings in the neighbourhoods of Zabalgana, Ibaiondo, Salburua and Abetxuko.

The opposition has made a negative assessment of the mayor's office.

The General Debate on Municipal Policy began on Thursday with the intervention of the mayor, who spoke, among other things, of the aforementioned housing ordinance. The plenary will continue on Friday with replicas from the opposition, although the three groups, EH Bildu, PP and Podemos, have already advanced their views.

PP and Podemos have described as "disappointing" the management carried out by Mayor Maider Etxebarria (PSE), who is accused of "lack of leadership." EH Bildu, for his part, has claimed that it is they who have given stability and progress to the city. 

Rocío Vitero, spokesperson for EH Bildu, recalled that when it came to forming government after the municipal elections of 2023, "in the name of stability we were held by the PP and removed from the mayor's office. Now time and concrete facts have shown that it is EH Bildu who has given stability and progress to Vitoria-Gasteiz."