Platja d'Aro wants to facilitate the return of residents who have left due to lack of affordable housing

The tourist appeal of Platja d'Aro, where more than half of the 15,712 homes in the municipality are second homes or tourist apartments, has caused housing rental and purchase prices to rise exponentially in recent years. This has led many young people from the town who wanted to become independent to move to other municipalities. So that these residents "can return home", the City Council is working to expand the public "affordable" housing stock, and one of the formulas it is committed to is asking the owners of the 374 homes in the municipality registered as "empty" to make them available to the municipal rental exchange. The City Council considers them empty homes because in the last four years they have not generated any electricity or gas bills. They do pay taxes such as IBI, which can be doubled or tripled from January 2026, and that is why the City Council gives them this warning: "Owner, do you have an empty home? It may be costing you money".

In the last meeting of the Municipal Housing Table, held at the end of last June, the City Council decided to request the collaboration of the Official College of Real Estate Agents of Girona (API) and the property administrators of the municipality to contact each of the owners of these flats and ask them to rent them out through the City Council in exchange for compensation, such as a discount on the property tax (IBI). "These owners get no profit from their homes, as they do not use them or rent them out and, instead, pay taxes," indicates the mayor of Platja d'Aro, Maurici Jiménez, who also warns that having an empty flat will be penalized from January next year with a surcharge on the amount of the IBI. The City Council's proposal is for owners to generate income from these currently empty homes through rentals managed by the Council: "In this way, we avoid them fears and worries, as the City Council guarantees they will receive the rent every month and assumes the complete management of the rental contract, the risk insurance and legal defense or mediation in case of need".

Housing applicants' exchange

Jiménez assures that, if at least half of these empty homes are incorporated into the affordable housing rental exchange, "it could largely respond to current demand." The City Council has registered about 110 people as rental housing applicants, according to requests handled at the municipal housing office, but if those who have not approached the Consistory are added, the real figure is much higher. To have a real census, the City Council will activate the Housing Applicant Exchange this September. "With this exchange, we will not only be able to know how many people are looking for housing in Platja d'Aro, but also to know their profile: age, purchasing power, whether they are looking for an apartment for themselves or for a family, or if they are looking to rent or buy, among other aspects," indicates the mayor. A survey conducted by the City Council revealed that among housing applicants, a good portion are looking to rent rather than buy, they are single people, they earn the interprofessional minimum wage or more, and they can afford to pay a rent of about 500 euros, but they cannot find housing because the rental price in the municipality is around a thousand euros per month.

The public housing park will also be increased with about 40 new apartments from the two new blocks that the Generalitat is building on two plots of land ceded by the City Council. The council is committed to managing them as affordable rental housing, taking into account accumulated residency registrations over the years as a condition for access as a tenant, thus favoring the return of village residents who have not found housing and have had to leave.

The population of Platja d'Aro, with a current figure of nearly 13,000 registered residents, has been growing year after year, with notable peaks such as the one recorded during the covid pandemic, when numerous people with second homes in the municipality decided to convert them into primary residences, or the massive arrival of Ukrainian citizens in the Baix Empordà municipality, around 600, since the outbreak of the conflict in their country with Russia. In fact, Ukraine is the origin of the third largest immigrant group in Platja d'Aro, after Russia. According to the mayor, these are mainly citizens with purchasing power who are looking for tranquility, quality of life, and a highly valuable scenic environment.