Smhausa has started the rehabilitation of the building at number 40 of Dos Street, in Bonavista, with the aim of converting it into the first entire block in the neighborhood destined for social housing. The works started last week in a property that was owned by Sareb, which had remained abandoned since the end of its construction in 2012 and which for years had been a point of conflict.
The municipal forecast is that the works will be finished before the end of June and that the handover of keys will take place during the second half of the year. The block will have four apartments and represents a change of direction in public housing policy in Tarragona, since until now acquisitions were destined for social emergency and now they are oriented towards affordable rent.
"It is an important action, because it is the first block we have bought and it will be for affordable rent, not for housing emergency, which is part of the strategy to break dynamics and try to intervene in the market to the extent that we can" - Nacho García Latorre, president of Smhausa and Councillor for Urban Planning
A project focused on common areas and elevator
The rehabilitation of the Bonavista building is valued at 185,000 euros. The action is carried out with aid of 85,000 euros from Next Generation funds, within an eight-million-euro program for housing rehabilitation in terms of energy efficiency.
Smhausa had bought the property at the end of 2024, although the start of the works was delayed due to a problem with the water supply connection. The general condition of the block, however, allowed for a more limited intervention.
"It's a block that is very good, in which practically only needs to rehabilitate the common areas and the elevator, which doesn't work, but the interior of the flats and the facade are in good condition" - Nacho García Latorre, president of Smhausa and councilor for Urbanism
Two new buildings in portfolio to expand the public stock
The public housing company also has two other properties in its portfolio to also allocate them to social housing. Both have been acquired through the pre-emption and redemption formula, within a strategy with which the City Council seeks to increase the municipal stock.
One of them is on Lleida street. It is a multi-family building more than a hundred years old, bought in July last year for 1,150 million euros. The property consisted of six homes of 110 m² and another two of 84 m². The planned renovation proposes a redistribution of spaces to obtain fourteen apartments.
The latest acquisition corresponds to a three-story building at number 19 López Peláez street, next to the old Monegal Clinic. The property, from 1950 and with an area of 116 square meters, was acquired for close to 323,000 euros.
In this building on López Peláez, the structure and the roof are in good condition after the reinforcements carried out, the replacement of beams and the waterproofing of the roof. The planned action includes the facade and a comprehensive renovation with renewal of the water and electricity installations. The estimated cost of the rehabilitation amounts to 134,830 euros.
Change of criterion in municipal housing policy
This year's budget of the Ajuntament de Tarragona incorporates an item of 1.5 million euros for the acquisition of social housing. Since 2020, the municipal investment in social housing purchase already nears five million euros.
The operation initiated in Bonavista marks that shift in criteria in municipal policy. The acquired flats had been focused until now on social emergency situations, but in recent times the priority has shifted to affordable rent, with the intention of gaining intervention capacity in the city's residential market.