During her remarks, she also reviewed the actions of the Spanish Government. Pía Canals described Maricarmen’s eviction as a tragedy and traced its legal origins to the 1994 Urban Leases Act promoted by Felipe González, a law that, she noted, the current government has not amended.
ARAGÓN REJECTS RENT PRESSURE ZONES
The director general of Housing also addressed the designation of rent pressure zones, a measure that the Government of Aragón completely rejects. As an example, she pointed out that between 2024 and 2025, a quarter of the homes available in Catalonia left the market.
She also questioned the provision of €90 million in direct subsidies to the regions that do apply this measure, such as Catalonia, the Basque Country and Navarre, but not to the other regions that also apply part of the Housing Act. “It is a parliamentary loyalty program,” she said.
Pía Canals also denounced the fact that Aragón has state-owned land available for the construction of 2,000 homes that are not being developed. She said that the Government of Aragón had asked the Housing Ministry to transfer the land, but that the state department refused. After a year, she criticized, nothing has been mobilized.
REGIONAL HOUSING POLICY
By contrast, the director general of Housing outlined the four policy areas being pursued by the Aragonese government during this legislative term. Regarding public housing, she highlighted that 3,600 homes are already in the planning, construction or completed stages, with the aim of bringing 1,000 affordable rental homes to the market each year.
The government is also promoting protected housing, complemented by the regional “Buy Your Home” program. Canals said that when she took office, there were 800 pending applications. To restore developers’ confidence, the government decided to support them and speed up administrative procedures. She noted that this policy has worked: 881 protected homes were developed between 2019 and 2023, while more than 1,800 have been developed since 2023.
DEPOSITS AND RENOVATION
The third policy area involves improving the management of rental contract deposits. In 2023, there were 5,200 applications awaiting processing in Zaragoza province alone. The system is now “up to date,” the director general said, thanks especially to the WFIA tool, whose development began in 2018 and was completed last November. The tool allows all procedures related to deposits to be completed online.
The fourth policy area is housing renovation in coordination with national authorities. Aragón manages €115 million in European funds for this purpose. Canals denounced that, when she took office, the implementation of these funds was very low, while by June 2026 the region had met the targets set by European institutions.
After meeting those targets, Pía Canals highlighted that the EU granted the region an extension until June 2028, “thus guaranteeing the viability of projects that, due to unforeseen circumstances affecting the works, could not be completed on time.”
