The Balearic housing minister, José Luis Mateo, announced some days ago that the Ibavi housing agency will be spending 60 million euros in 2025 on new social housing. As part of this package, Pollensa will get twenty homes. These will be on land in the Gotmar area that is close to the main road that connects the town and the port. It is classified as being developable.
Exact details of the project have yet to be specified, though Pollensa's mayor, Marti March, has indicated that they are likely to be twenty homes on two floors and be for rent as opposed to buy. The criteria for applying will be set by the town hall. These will include, for instance, proof of having been a resident of Pollensa for a certain number of years.
Balearic Government policy, both that of the previous and current government is one of focusing more on renting rather than buying. Whichever it is, there is no questioning the fact that there is a major shortage of affordable social housing. This situation has partly come about because of terms and conditions for the purchase of VPO (vivienda de protección oficial) properties.
The VPOs first emerged in the early 1980s. The prices were set by the public administration (the Balearic Government from 1983), but after thirty years these homes could be offered on the open market, the price having of course been well below the market rate. At one time there were over 27,000 of these VPOs in the Balearics. Of these some 17,000 have been sold off on the open market. The rest will be, and the government can't prevent these sales despite a legislative change in 2018. This only applies to new homes; they will be public property in perpetuity.
Pollensa provided a stark example of the VPO Ts and Cs. A few years ago, when the current mayor's brother, Miquel Àngel March, was mayor, attention was drawn to the fact that there was no longer a single VPO under the government's protected price regime in the municipality. They were all now on the open market, having either been sold or with the possibility of being sold at a handsome profit.
Those Ts and Cs were a big mistake. 27,000 or so homes with controlled prices would now be most welcome. Governments are now making up for the loss. Twenty in Pollensa is something, but there will only be twenty.