The Basque government aims to improve access to affordable housing through a coordinated strategy built around five levers. Housing and Urban Development Minister Denis Itxaso presented the approach at the Sociedad Bilbaína of bringing together land, time, production, finance and the rental market in order to significantly increase the supply of protected and affordable housing. The key instrument is a Fondo Social de Vivienda, intended to mobilise up to 10,000 affordable homes by pooling public and private capital.
First, a strategic land reserve would secure sites in advance, so that projects do not depend on the property cycle. Second, prioritised projects and reforms to spatial and urban planning would shorten procedures without weakening legal safeguards. Third, the government is backing the industrialisation of construction to reduce build times and costs and improve quality; a hub for industrialised construction methods is intended to drive the sector’s transformation.
Fourth, the Basque government plans to attract long-term capital through the Fondo Social de Vivienda. Alongside regional funds, participants are expected to include the European Investment Bank and the Instituto de Crédito Oficial. Fifth, rental-market regulation in designated high-pressure areas is to be based on applications from local authorities and combine measures set out over several years to expand supply, limit excessive increases and coordinate administrations.
Itxaso stressed that all five levers will only be effective when combined: otherwise, projects could fail because of a lack of land, lengthy permits, rising costs or a failure to secure funding. As complementary measures, he announced Alokaplus , a public insurance scheme against rent arrears and damage, intended to bring vacant homes onto the market by giving owners greater security. The government is also working on a Plan Territorial Sectorial de Vivienda, which will map housing needs across the region and establish shared territorial criteria.
Further initiatives aim to link the land reserve with the Fondo Social de Vivienda, improve transparency and equal treatment in the sale of privately built but protected homes through public brokerage, and keep homes built before 2003 in designated high-pressure areas permanently within the protected housing stock. They are aimed chiefly at middle-income households, workers and young people who do not qualify for social housing but cannot afford free-market prices. Whether the planned scale and pace can be achieved will depend on funding commitments and implementation by local authorities.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).