One in three public housing units investigated in Alicante has no registered occupant

The Alicante City Council has said that 46 of the 140 public housing units in Playa de San Juan that are being looked at by the courts have no registered tenants. They also said that in more than a dozen cases, numerous members of the same family are getting benefits.

The situation of three brothers and two cousins from the same family, who are all between the ages of 18 and 24, is “truly striking.” They each got one of these VPP homes even though the cooperative’s first steps were taken in 2018, when they would have had to register at 14 or 15 years old.

Cristina Cutanda, the municipal spokesperson for the PP, said yesterday, Tuesday February 24th. The data came from an inspection of the Les Naus residential development by the local police, who found “signs” of many irregularities. They also found other homes with one registered resident but “it is noted that there are more people,” as well as twelve non-assigned people living in six homes, which would be a clear violation of regional regulations.

Cutanda said that 26 mailboxes looked “neglected, with a lot of uncollected advertising,” which “shows that (the contractors) do not appear at the building.”

The local police, who were told to do the inspection by the city’s mayor, Luis Barcala, and then gave it to the Housing Department, did it last Tuesday. The goal was to find out who lives in these public housing apartments and to see if any rules have been broken in a development that is thought to be luxury, with parking, a swimming pool, a gym, and two paddle tennis courts.

There are 89 single-parent homes, but in 20 of them, the police have proof that more people stay overnight. In more than a dozen cases, several members of the same family are given the homes, including the one for three brothers and two cousins between the ages of 18 and 24, though Cutanda has warned that “there could be more.”

Cutanda said, “This is a very specific feature of Les Naus: there are a lot of families registered as single-parent households.” He also said that the cooperative should explain how they chose their members. He also said that the city council only sells the land and puts the construction out to tender, and that the cooperative decides who gets the land and the regional ministry approves the process.

At this point, he said, “The official (from the department) who was in charge of carrying out this function, promoted by Compromís in the last Botànic legislature, has been disciplined and suspended from employment and salary by the Generalitat.”

The agents also uncovered six houses where the owner does not live. One of the “striking” situations was that of another beneficiary who has the same last name as two young men, 19 and 22, who have also kept a flat apiece.

The Popular Party spokesperson has asked the Les Naus cooperative to explain “in detail” how they chose the cooperative members and how they decide who gets the apartments, based on what the local police have learnt.

Manuel Villar, the deputy mayor and a member of the People’s Party, said that the city council has opened three information files. One of them affects two technicians in the Urban Planning area, another affects María Pérez-Hickman, the head of Contracting, and the third is about access to private information.

Villar said that the city council is “fully willing” to work with the Justice system. He also said that all of this information would be sent to the court looking into the matter on Wednesday. The city council is also thinking about becoming a private prosecutor in the case.

He made it clear that the city council has only received the intention to renounce from two of the owners and that they are looking into how to exercise the right of first refusal or redemption with the Valencian regional government.