Pamplona (EFE).- Representatives of the Government of Spain and the communities of Euskadi, Castilla y León, Asturias and Navarra, gathered at the “Biziberri” forum held in Pamplona, have highlighted the need to rehabilitate homes as a “opportunity”, in a context of important European aid for these actions through Next Generation funds.
The deputy general director of Land, Information and Evaluation of the Mitma, Miguel Baiget, has declared in this forum that the rehabilitation is a “enormous opportunity” due to the “huge” amount of money that the European Recovery Plan allocates to this matter.
“We have a challenge, some commitments made with Europe,” said Baiget, who pointed out that this “leap of scale” in rehabilitation needs to implement different instruments, such as aid programs for autonomous communities (1,389 euros transferred in 2022 ) or personal income tax deductions.
“There are funds everywhere”
Also the line of guarantees of 1,100 million euros that has been enabled for the part not covered by the aid, and an improvement in the regulatory framework, especially support for communities of owners in decision-making.
The head of the IDAE’s Domestic and Buildings Department, Fernando García Mozos, stressed that “this is the moment, there are funds everywhere” and “we have to take advantage of the occasion”.
After regretting that in some areas of Spain there are “tremendous problems” to find qualified professionals to carry out this volume of work, he stressed that Navarra is “the autonomous community with the greatest projection, where the best conditions for these energy rehabilitation policies are met”. .
Rehabilitation in Euskadi, Castilla y León, Asturias and Navarra
The director of Housing Planning and Operational processes of the Basque Government, Mario José Yoldi, has indicated to EFE that “absolutely extraordinary Next funds” are arriving, with very short execution periods, for which reason “we are trying to take advantage of the opportunity to combine public efforts, which in our case are very important, with this European aid”.
The challenge from 2026, when the European funds arrive, he pointed out, is to have been able to create our own financing structures for rehabilitation, because “we will continue to have the same needs.”
For his part, the Director General of Housing for the Principality of Asturias, Fermín Bravo, commented that the “big difference” in his community is that “we are very committed to the comprehensive rehabilitation of neighborhoods and comprehensive actions on buildings; Right now we are not betting on the change of the private window or the change of the boiler”.
The rehabilitation, he stressed, “is generating a lot of activity, a lot of business, our companies are leaving Asturias and Spain to do business and we are very happy with everything that is being developed.”
In this sense, the general director of Housing of the Junta de Castilla y León, María Pardo, explained to EFE that in this community the rehabilitation began with the historical complexes “and we have evolved qualitatively and quantitatively. We have gone from those projects focused on conservation to a rehabilitation, which is the one that has come now, focused more on energy efficiency”.
After highlighting that in Castilla y León more than 25,000 homes have already been rehabilitated, with a total investment of some 330 million euros, Pardo has defended the culture of rehabilitation focused on energy efficiency, “that what is most demanded right now by citizenship, for the payment of the invoice and also for environmental reasons”.
The Minister of Territorial Planning, Housing, Landscape and Strategic Projects of the Government of Navarra, José María Aierdi, has told EFE that the commitment in the Foral Community “is clearly for the regeneration of our neighbourhoods, towns and cities”.
Navarra, he pointed out, has “much to contribute” on two levels, the first of which is “the effort made by the Government of Navarra in complementary support for Next Generation funds, which are what allow us to enjoy some aid that they have a good response from the neighboring communities”, and the second “the process that we have been implementing for a long time of social participation”.
Other points of view on rehabilitation
Also participating in this forum was the manager of the Institut Municipal d’Urbanisme de Barcelona, David Martínez, who has opted to “make the most of” European funds together with those of municipal origin, which are channeled through three lines: campaigns general subsidy, action in 23 vulnerable neighborhoods and urban regeneration with turnkey actions.
Most of the rehabilitations in Barcelona, he has assured EFE, “are aimed at maximizing energy efficiency and, in the event that there are other types of deficiencies, these come to the fore, but there is always inevitably the question of efficiency present energy”.
Dinis Rodríguez, from the European Investment Bank, has also considered in statements to EFE that this “is an important moment”, since, “with the increase in energy costs, this is also an opportunity to make a change in the conditions of habitability in order to give neighboring communities better thermal comfort and help them reduce energy costs”.
Manuela Navarro, owner and neighbor of the Madrid town of Orcasitas, has offered in this forum a vision at street level and has stressed to EFE that “the rehabilitation of housing at an energy level, apart from being absolutely necessary, is health, is quality of life and of course it is an improvement in all aspects”.
“I believe that all citizens have the right to have decent energy housing and of course we also support the environment,” said Navarro, who opined that this “is a new right in which all administrations should be involved to ensure that all the houses are like that, because the difference is abysmal” for the neighbors.