Andalusia closes “grand housing pact”

14 December 2007

SEVILLE – Andalusian regional premier Manuel Chaves joined representatives of labor unions, business associations, town councils and local banks Thursday to sign the region’s first “grand housing pact,” an ambitious initiative to guarantee decent, public-subsidised housing for all low-income families.

The plan will involve spending EUR 17 billion to build 700,000 homes in the region of 7.8 million people over the next 10 years. At least 300,000 of the new homes will be subsidised housing for low-income families, many of whom have been priced out of the market by a 10-year real estate boom that is now coming to an end.

Chaves said the houses would be priced according to what “families can afford.” The pact marks the first step toward approving a new housing law in Andalusia next year to strengthen regulation of the sector.

[Copyright EL PAÍS, SL. 2007]

Subject: Spanish news