The old Agricultural Chamber of Sant Joan avoids speculation and will house protected housing

Saint JohnThe old Chamber of Agriculture of Sant Joan has avoided real estate speculation, will be rehabilitated and will be used for social housing for young farmers in the region of Pla de Mallorca.

The project to convert the building into housing, which was presented yesterday at the Sant Joan Town Hall, is the result of an agreement between the Government of the Balearic Islands and the Unió de Pagesos de Mallorca, the union that owns the property. These three homes will be the first IBAVI development in Sant Joan.

The initiative plans to rehabilitate the building of the old Chamber of Agriculture, located at Carrer de Belisari, 18, to create three public protection housing units, for rent, which in principle will be intended for young farmers. If there is no demand from this sector, they will be put on ordinary social rent.

The Minister of Housing, Territory and Mobility of the Government, José Luis Mateo, and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, presented the project together with the mayor of Sant Joan, Catalina Perelló, and the general secretary of the Unió de Pagesos, Sebastià Ordines.

The homes will be intended for young farmers between eighteen and forty years old who meet the requirements established to access protected housing. The development will allow a new social use for the old Chamber of Agriculture and facilitate access to housing for young people linked to the agricultural sector, as agreed by the Government and the Unió de Pagesos when launching this initiative. The chambers of agriculture were created in 1977 as consultative bodies of the Administration on matters of agriculture and livestock and came to have their own infrastructures financed by farmers. These entities were dissolved at the beginning of the 21st century.

In this regard, from UP, Ordines recalled that "for more than 20 years the Unió de Pagesos demanded that the agricultural chambers return to their legitimate representatives and that they be distributed at the time among the existing agricultural organizations." Regarding the property located in the center of Sant Joan, near the Town Hall, Ordines informed that Unió de Pagesos received "a multitude of offers, mostly from foreign capital, to buy this agricultural chamber, but the ethics of Unió de Pagesos prevented this from happening. Therefore, we automatically went to IBAVI to find a solution." "In the end, the housing crisis affects all the towns of Mallorca and Sant Joan is not saved. Therefore, I think it is a day to celebrate, a day when Unió de Pagesos returns this agricultural chamber to Sant Joan. And in 14 years, when Unió de Pagesos recovers one of the three homes, obviously, those who are in Unió de Pagesos will decide what social purpose to give it at that time".

The general secretary of UP ended by "encouraging other entities that have agricultural chambers in the towns to take a step forward, not to want to play Monopoly and to decide to make social housing".

Two bedrooms

The development will consist of three two-bedroom homes, one of which will be adapted for people with disabilities. The homes will have usable areas between 51.88 and 54.95 m² and there will be one on each floor, with independent access and services. The building currently has a ground floor, first floor, and porch.

The rehabilitation project, which plans to add another floor to gain an apartment, has a budget of €470,000 plus VAT. The works are planned to begin this year and, once started, have an execution period of 18 months.

IBAVI will retain ownership and management for fourteen years and, after this period, one of the homes will be handed over to the agricultural entity as consideration for the assignment.