The Santa Cruz City Council, with the assistance of the Municipal Housing department, is in the process of initiating the bidding process for the acquisition of 25 residences intended for social renting. This announcement was made today by the mayor of Santa Cruz, Jose Manuel Bermudez, during a press briefing where he was joined by the Housing Councillor, Ana Belén Mesa, and the Municipal Housing manager, Juan Ramón Beltrán.
As explained by the Mayor, “The Housing Department, with the support of the Cabildo, which provides us with a grant of one million euros, and the forthcoming collaboration of the Canary Islands Government, is preparing the tender for the purchase of a batch of standard homes, ranging from a minimum of 15 to a maximum of 25 units, each equipped with at least one parking space and, if applicable, a storage area.”
“At the start of this term, we made a commitment to explore solutions to increase the stock of social housing in the city, in addition to the ongoing projects, and the option of purchasing completed homes was one of those possibilities,” Bermúdez added. “Now, we are pleased to announce that we will be commencing a process through which, via a public tender, various companies that meet the specified criteria will have the opportunity to offer the dwellings we are seeking through this procedure.”
The mayor emphasised that, at present, “Santa Cruz administers over 100 million in housing, encompassing construction, renovation, and acquisition, a claim that very few municipalities can make.”
In her remarks, the Housing Councillor, Ana Belén Mesa, wished to underline the efforts made since the commencement of the term “to explore various avenues to augment the public housing stock in the city, and thanks to the subsidy obtained through the active housing scheme of the Council, we will be able to initiate the bidding process for the purchase of a fully built property.”
The guidelines will clearly outline the required specifications for these residences, starting with the condition that they are situated within a single building, alongside their communal areas, parking facilities, and, where applicable, storage spaces, allowing for comprehensive oversight by the Municipal Housing, Projects, and Works department of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, SA
Moreover, the designated building must conform to the design and quality standards as dictated by the Officially Protected Housing Design guidelines and must be situated in the locality of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The principal use of the plot must be residential, inclusive of a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 25 units, possessing a construction permit, a deed of new development declaration, and the establishment of the horizontal property regime.
The building must be registered in the Land Registry as either a standalone edifice or as part of multiple blocks or constructed entities, with a preference for residences that have never been inhabited before, and the residences, parking spaces, and, where relevant, storage areas may be classified as public housing, in accordance with prevailing regulations.
The housing programme may encompass variations, offering various types with differing bedroom counts. The building must allocate a minimum number of parking spaces equivalent to the number of dwellings, with a maximum of one storage area per unit, and the dwellings must be free from debts and encumbrances.
The estimated sale value (excluding IGIC and other taxes) for a reference building comprising up to 25 collective dwellings, 25 parking spaces, and, where appropriate, 25 storage areas, is determined to be 4.2 million euros.
The financing of this venture is structured with 710,000 euros of internal funding, one million euros from the Cabildo de Tenerife, and a forthcoming subsidy from the Canary Islands Government. The bidding and awarding process for this contract will be completed before the year’s end.
Planned Rehabilitation of Residential Environment (ERRP)
Thanks to the efforts of Municipal Housing and the allocation of Next Generation funds, Santa Cruz is set to undertake the refurbishment of 673 residences in Añaza, totalling over 18 million euros, through the Residential Environment for Programmed Rehabilitation (ERRP) initiatives. The first segment will focus on refurbishing 381 residences, while the second phase will incorporate an additional 292 units.
This section also includes the 292 residences under the Los Gladiolos ERRP, which encompasses 32 units from Los Verodes distributed across three phases, with a budget of 9.7 million euros.
Housing Renovation
The initiatives by Municipal Housing also feature the Urban Regeneration and Renewal Actions (ARRU), a scheme that affects 1,568 residences and is supported by a budget of 28.8 million euros.
Consequently, utilizing the 2018 annual budget, work was executed on 1,081 residences, with a total allocation of 18,409,832 euros across neighbourhoods such as Santa María del Mar IV, Miramar IV, La Salud III, La Victoria III, García Escámez II, Cepsa I, Ofra III, Los Gladiolos I.
In the 2020 budget, efforts were directed towards 118 dwellings, with an investment of 2,113,500 euros, situated within the neighbourhoods of Miramar V, Health IV, Ofra IV, and Los Gladiolos II. Additionally, in 2021, interventions were carried out in an additional 369 residences, with a budget of 8,305,250 euros spread across the districts of Miramar VI, Health V, Ofra V, and Los Gladiolos III.
Housing Construction
Under the Canary Islands Housing Plan 2020-2025, a project is currently in progress to award the contract for the construction of 37 VPO residences in María Jiménez, with an overall budget of 4,834,751.03 euros. An additional 226 VPO units are set to be developed in Cuevas Blancas, with an investment of 29,336,453.49 euros, for which the blueprint has been finalised, pending solely the VPO certification. Furthermore, collaborative efforts with the Canary Islands Government are ongoing for the construction of another 80 VPO units within the municipality.
Advancements continue in terms of land transfer under the subsurface rights framework for fostering affordable rental housing and land transfer for consideration for construction and utilisation for affordable renting purposes.
