“The real priority that Orihuela has on the coast is to ensure that there is affordable housing for those who want to live and work there, and not just for tourists and occasional residents,” stated José Aix, the spokesperson for Cs Orihuela, whilst presenting the motion that his group will submit to the ordinary plenary session in June. Cs is thus challenging Vox and the PP to demonstrate that they have housing policies for Orihuela residents in the coastal area of the municipality, where the local government of Orihuela recently announced the sale of three municipal plots for residential uses, primarily for second homes and tourism.
The spokesperson for Cs Orihuela explained that they will request the PP and Vox to suspend the sale process of these plots “to build housing that is not within reach of the coastal residents who work there, but rather for high incomes, who will use them as second homes or for tourism, meaning we continue to lack a municipal strategy to turn Orihuela Costa into a true town where people live and work on a stable basis,” noted Aix. He criticised what he termed as “the double face” of the PP and Vox government, which “sets up a municipal company to promote affordable housing and then sells plots to build properties that the average Orihuela resident cannot acquire,” he indicated.
For this reason, Cs Orihuela demands that the announced sale of the plots be reconsidered, as both the money obtained by the Ayuntamiento through a credit operation more than a year ago and the unspent funds from previous years remain unexecuted. “It is not understood,” said Aix, “that they want to sell plots to fatten up the municipal accounts instead of launching effective municipal housing policies.”
In its motion, Cs will equally request that the Orihuela council follow the example of Torrevieja, which joined the VIVE Plan of the Generalitat Valenciana launched by the regional PP government in 2024 for the promotion of protected public housing and has already started the construction of its first 36 protected homes out of a total of 822 planned. According to Aix, “Orihuela should learn what Torrevieja does well, and in this case, promote housing within reach of Torrevieja residents who live and work in their city,” something Aix denies would be possible if the PP and Vox government in Orihuela prefers “to continue building homes for foreign tourists rather than for Orihuela residents themselves, those who are already here or those who might come to live and work in our city.”
Cs has also denounced that the document on which the current Orihuela government relies to decide the allocation of money obtained from selling these plots “for social uses that are not specified,” said Aix, when by law it should be prioritised for promoting protected housing, is the Municipal Multi-year Programme for Protected Housing. This was approved by the PP alone in a plenary session on 30th November 2010, 16 years ago, making it a document that is “completely outdated and does not respond to the current needs of what is the main problem in Spain and also in Orihuela: the lack of affordable housing.” Therefore, he demands an updated multi-year plan.
