The PP's shift: from focusing on "minimum land consumption" to rezoning rural land

PalmThe People's Party (PP) has shifted its focus from creating housing by consuming the "minimum possible" land footprint to promoting a land acquisition law that will allow for the rezoning of land currently considered rural, known as rural land. Marga Prohens's government has shifted its discourse on housing in the first two years of its term, marked by a change of minister. While the head of the department until 2024, Marta Vidal, promoted a law to address the housing emergency, which would involve increasing density in already built-up areas, her replacement, José Luis Mateo, has opted for the land acquisition law, currently being processed in Parliament, with which the government assures that this will be possible. The intervention of Vox, which demanded the inclusion of transition areas—which are rural land—in the regulations, has been key.

Executive sources consulted by ARA Baleares confirm this shift, although the general director of housing, José Francisco Reynés, denies a change and assures that we have simply moved to a "second phase" in the PP's policies: "The policies are not set by the ministers, but by the electoral program." When Vidal had just taken office as minister, in August 2023, she defended in a interview to Mallorca Diary Her bet. "We must strive, by consuming the minimum amount of land, to generate housing for the middle class, so that they can't enter a speculative market," she said. "We must once and for all establish a Housing Observatory to have real data. In addition, we must go all out against illegal tourist rentals."

Both Vidal and the PP deputy echoed the same sentiments. Margalida Pocoví defended on April 16, 2024 Vidal's flagship measure: the Decree Law on Urgent Housing Measures. "This Decree Law aims to generate affordable housing, without consuming land and without costing the public purse," Pocoví argued. Emphasis on the fact that this regulation allowed the construction of empty lots without exploiting them. Although Vidal was not opposed to new growths, he did advocate that they be carried out surgically and with technical reports. For example, in one interview with ARA Baleares He stressed the need to guarantee the water supply in order to expand housing construction.

"The first Law of Urgent Measures in Housing was limited to urban land," explains Reynés: "It did not affect rural land in transition areas, nor did it affect land suitable for development." It included measures such as the conversion of premises into housing, the division of housing, the change of use of facilities, and the increase in building heights. "It was a first step," he explains. Vidal promoted an emergency plan that included, in addition to the approval of the decree, the transfer of publicly owned land for construction in exchange for rental, in addition to the Secure Rental Plan to facilitate the entry of housing onto the market. "With the approval of the land acquisition law, we were thinking of a longer-term perspective, including unconverted urban land and development land, although later, with the agreement with the PP and Vox, transition areas were also introduced," explains the Director General of Housing. "The objective of this decree law and future law is to secure suitable land where construction can be carried out more quickly and efficiently," he explains.

The government initially considered that if urban development projects were carried out, priority should be given to land affected by property liability proceedings and an assessment should be made of whether an agreement could be reached with the owners to build limited-price housing, as reported by knowledgeable sources. But, ultimately, the law promoted by Mateo establishes generic criteria. "No specific land is specified, but rather certain requirements are set, and the land that meets them is valued," Reynés points out.

How effective have Prohens' housing policies been? The People's Party (PP) is resisting a shock to rental prices—as mandated by the state housing law—arguing that this would reduce available supply. The law promoted during Vidal's term, before her departure, had initiated procedures for 1,700 planned homes, while the Build to Rent program has enabled the planning of between 2,300 and 2,400 homes; public housing development has allowed for approximately 1,000 more; and the Secure Rental Plan has signed around thirty contracts, according to the director general. "With the land acquisition law measures, approximately 10,000 affordable homes can be created in Palma, and it remains to be seen how many more will be created in the rest of the municipalities once the expansion of its scope is approved by Parliament," he asserts.