The Government of Aragon, the City Council of Zaragoza, Ibercaja Banco, and the Compensation Board signed a agreement this Monday to promote the 17,000 pending housing units in the southern sector of Arcosur. The majority of these future homes will be subsidized and aim to alleviate the lack of residential supply resulting from the creation of 50,000 jobs linked to the General Interest Plans and Projects (PIGA) that will be implemented in the autonomous community, particularly in the metropolitan area of Zaragoza.
The agreement will allow for the acceleration of the definitive development of Arcosur, 23 years after the signing of the original urban planning agreement and 15 years after the construction of the first homes. The agreement comes at a critical moment: 47,000 young people from Aragon are unable to gain independence due to difficulties accessing housing, of which 30,000 reside in Zaragoza. The President of the Government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, emphasized that housing is currently the main concern for Spaniards and Aragonese, and he valued the collaboration between administrations, businesses, and urban and financial entities to address the issue.
The text of the agreement stipulates that all phases of land development must be initiated within an approximate timeframe of 5 years. This action is part of the Aragon More Housing Plan, which will promote nearly 5,000 housing units during the current legislative term, although the extraordinary economic situation of the autonomous community requires a much greater number of housing units to attract investments in the metropolitan area.
City Council of Zaragoza: will streamline urban administrative procedures, reserve land for 800 subsidized housing units, promote the necessary public facilities, and analyze the possibility of improving public transportation.
Ibercaja Banco: will reserve land for 1,000 subsidized housing units and facilitate financing aimed at the urban development of the neighborhood.
Compensation Board: will draft the pending urbanization projects and contract the necessary works to ensure the availability of land for a minimum of 10,000 housing units, as well as reserve land for 1,500 subsidized housing units.
Government of Aragon: will allocate the income obtained from the urban developments of the PIGAs to the acquisition of land and to the promotion of public housing or housing with some type of protection in all areas where new jobs are generated, with particular attention to the metropolitan area of Zaragoza and, specifically, in Arcosur. The regional government commits initially to the acquisition of land to promote 1,000 public housing units or units with some type of protection, leaving the door open for future acquisitions through bidding processes.
