Alicante progresses in the rehabilitation of 14 homes for young rental in San Gabriel

The Alicante Municipal Housing Board has given the green light this Tuesday to the tender for the renovation works of 14 homes in San Gabriel. The municipal body has approved the agreement to put this action out to tender with the aim of transforming the old teachers' housing building into residences and allocating it to first-time rental opportunities for young people.

This is the last step before the works can begin, which are expected after the summer. The project has a budget of 1,380,637.51 euros and a period of 10 months. The Board hopes that the works can be awarded by the end of summer, so if the deadlines are met, the homes would be ready after the Hogueras of 2026. The City Council's Governing Board approved the project on March 4, and now, a month later, the public tender is given the go-ahead for its execution.

This project involves the rehabilitation of the old teachers' housing building located at Fernando Díaz de Mendoza Street, 1 in the San Gabriel neighborhood. The property was transferred by the City Council to the Municipal Housing Board in December 2023 to increase the municipal housing stock for social rental. In 2024, the Board tenders and awards the drafting and project management services for the works, with Belmonte Botella, S.L.P. being the awardee, who in January 2025 presents the project to proceed this April to tender the works.

The Councillor for Housing and President of the Municipal Housing Board, Carlos de Juan, explained that "this is a priority project of the current government team within their plans to incorporate new housing into the municipal social rental stock, in this case, to facilitate the emancipation of young people."

"We are working to expand the housing stock of the Municipal Housing Board with this promotion and with that of El Portón, which will be completed around August and will provide another 15 homes for young rental. In addition, we continue to work to promote another promotion of 32 social homes on a municipal plot in San Blas," explained the councillor.

The action to be carried out has several objectives, including the rehabilitation of existing pathologies in the building; energy rehabilitation and improvement of accessibility conditions, including the installation of an elevator. In addition, these actions will also improve environmental conditions and urban image and the provision of telecommunications infrastructure.

Another novelty will be the redistribution of the floors to obtain 14 one-bedroom homes, four more homes than currently, and a common-use premises facing the interior courtyard. One of the ground floor homes will be accessible for people with reduced mobility, in compliance with the General Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Social Inclusion and the Generalitat's Law on Universal Accessibility in the Valencian Community.

The Municipal Housing Board has applied for European funds for its financing, as it meets the objectives of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, Next Generation EU funds, achieving an 80% reduction in non-renewable primary energy consumption by acting on the envelope and installations.

From the Socialist Municipal Group, Councillor Silvia Castell has criticized that the type of housing that the PP government wants to allocate to youth in the San Gabriel neighborhood are apartments of barely 40 square meters and with only one room. This is something that makes it difficult for young people to start a family.

"With this type of mini-homes, it is impossible to start a future project and even less to think about starting a family. Barcala demonstrates that his housing policy is completely flawed because it does not guarantee access to decent housing for many families in a housing emergency situation," the councillor stated.