Management of social housing initiative stumbles after special meeting at AMJASA
The political mud-slinging continues after the local government efforts to change the statutes of AMJASA are scuppered once again.

Mayor Rosa Cardona’s attempts to garner unanimous support from all political parties to modify the statutes of the municipal water company AMJASA which will allow it to manage social housing in Xàbia have failed once again.
A meeting of the company’s board of representatives was held on Tuesday but it could not accept the PSPV-PSOE‘s proposal that the plots that are currently being offered to private companies to build protected housing on a purchase basis are withdrawn from public auction and that the local council – through AMJASA – carry out the work and offer the houses under a protected social rental regime.
A subsequent statement released by the socialists explained that “[the current arrangement] protects the developers, but not the residents, since the houses (of which it is not known how many there will be or what their characteristics will be) will be priced at 2.400 euros/m2, which for a 100m2 house means a price of 240.000 euros, not including taxes and other expenses. Overall, an unaffordable operation for young people who want to leave home or for families with low incomes“.
READ MORE: Xàbia will seek consensus so that AMJASA can manage social housing
The statement continued that the proposal offered by the socialist representative Javier Bonet that the local council would develop the project instead was rejected. “The government team has said no and has preferred to go ahead with a plan that defends the interests of companies rather than those of the residents” adding that “these plots have a value, according to technical data, of around 1 million euros and they are going to be put out to tender for 4 euros. It is a ruinous business for our town and very good for whoever takes it. In addition, the formula chosen by Rosa Cardona’s government leaves us without several million euros of European funds that we could obtain under the rental option“.
The statement concluded that, in order to get the proposal accepted, the socialists were prepared to put aside its demand for a fairer distribution of board representatives based on the composition of the local council but that the offer was also rejected.
A couple of hours later, the PP responded with their own statement entitled “Blackmail versus Social Housing”, accusing the socialists of putting obstacles in the way of progress to support their own political benefit without considering the residents of Xàbia.
READ MORE: Xàbia unanimously approves the transfer of three plots to Valencia for social housing
The statement opened: “In the last 12 years, the socialists of Xàbia has not managed to obtain a single social housing unit. For this government, social housing is a firm commitment, and for this reason all possible avenues are being explored to respond to this need.”
It suggested that the socialists were “bothered” by the recent progress which saw the local council transfer three municipally-owned plots to the regional government for the construction of social housing. “The tendering process … is already underway and will soon become a reality. The problem is that this progress is imminent, and that bothers the PSOE, which only wants the government not to achieve something that they could not.”
With regards to the modification of the AMJASA statutes, it said: “the modification of the statutes of AMJASA [aims to turn it] into an agile municipal management tool for the management of social housing. Xàbia needs public housing both in the form of purchase and rental to satisfy all the needs of its residents, and this government is willing to work on all available avenues to respond to the serious problem of access to housing in the municipality“.
READ MORE: Affordable housing project is not all it seems, claims report by La Marina Plaza
The PP statement accused the PSOE of being “self-indulgent” and prioritizing its own agenda instead of addressing the real problems of Xàbia. “A clear example is its attitude towards the change of statutes of AMJASA: both last year and this year, they have tried to block this measure by demanding concessions in exchange, such as the increase in the number of representatives in the public company and the reversion of land to municipal ownership to delay the construction of social housing. Their position shows that their only interest is to put obstacles and condition any progress to their own political benefit, without thinking about the residents of Xàbia.“
And, in response to recent accusations that the social housing project would actually benefit the property developers rather than the town’s needy, the statement countered that: “it is important to emphasise that all the accusations by the PSOE about alleged urban speculation or the defence of the interests of construction companies are completely false. The entire process is regulated and supervised by law, guaranteeing that the houses are built with total transparency and contribute to solving the serious problem of access to housing in Xàbia.”
The statement concluded by highlighting that all other political parties “including Compromís, which is also in opposition” have supported the modification of the AMJASA statutes and that this demonstrated that “the PSOE has been left alone in its attempt to block a necessary and urgent project for Xàbia“.
READ MORE: Valencia and Xàbia sign exchange of plots to be used for affordable housing
The saga continues …