Four out of Ten New VPPs Will Be for Those Under 35

The Generalitat Valenciana has taken significant steps in the Publicly Protected Housing (VPP) market. The new decree aims to make housing more accessible to vulnerable groups such as young people, while also making this type of housing more attractive to developers in a highly profitable free market.

The new Publicly Protected Housing (VPP) decree in the Valencian Community, presented this Thursday by the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, will include a mandatory minimum reservation of 40% of new housing units, both public and private, for those under 35 and single-parent families. Additionally, this regulation will benefit families with a member who has a disability or dependency or victims of gender-based violence.

The regulation also will increase the maximum income level to access protected housing for families that have elderly dependents or children aged between 18 and 35. This means more opportunities for a family unit to access protected housing without having to resort to the much more expensive free market.

The maximum prices for VPPs will be modulated with a "dynamic, non-fixed and pioneering" system in Spain which, according to Mazón, "will mark a before and after in the Valencian Community and Spain." This system will consider the evolution of free market housing prices in that area, demographic pressure, and the evolution of average incomes in each municipality of the Valencian Community. "It will always ensure that the sale price for VPPs in the Valencian Community is below that of the free market," expressed the head of the Consell.

Mazón acknowledged that the lack of housing in the Valencian Community has reached a "critical" point and is "especially worrying" for young people. Rental prices have increased by 90% and purchase prices by 49% between 2015 and 2023, making it unattractive for developers to invest in VPPs.

Therefore, the new regulation focuses on incentivizing developers to build more protected housing through various levels of protection where all publicly owned housing will maintain its permanent status. The protection period can range from 30 years for developments on land designated for VPP; 20 years for those on land previously intended for free-market housing; and 15 years for those classified as young.

In this vein, the new regulation also introduces measures to "facilitate" processing and shorten timelines for obtaining qualifications. "It is essential to end bureaucracy," defended Mazón.

Mazón pointed out that this new VPP regulation is the "first stone" of a "much broader" legislative project and a set of actions ensuring an "effective response from the Consell to housing access needs in the Valencian Community." This new decree joins other initiatives such as Plan VIVE, which plans to build 10,000 new affordable homes already joined by over 200 municipalities in the Valencian Community.

Mazón highlighted that they aim to "correct" the real estate market situation in the Valencian Community "after years of inaction in this area," seeking to promote the construction of "affordable and accessible" housing that "reverses the shortage of housing supply in recent years and an ineffective policy."