The General Director of Alokabide, Patricia Val, has responded to the public request made by the Mayor of Donostia through the media to access housing managed by the Basque Government's public company. Val has specified that Alokabide has not received any formal or documented request in this regard, nor is it aware of the criteria the City Council intends to apply for their allocation.
Val recalled that the homes managed by Alokabide in Donostia are part of Euskadi's public housing infrastructure, primarily aimed at demanders registered in Etxebide, and do not constitute a residential stock that the City Council can dispose of outside established procedures.
Currently, Alokabide manages 766 homes in Donostia, including developments built by the Basque Government and those incorporated through the Bizigune program. Of these, 726 are rented to local families, while the rest are in the process of being prepared, allocated, or relocated according to Etxebide's procedures.
The General Director recalled that the criteria for direct housing allocation are established equally for all Basque municipalities, and that any parallel allocation mechanism outside the Basque Government would require the corresponding legal modification and consideration of the consequences of repeatedly replacing registered demanders with others, without the criteria having been explained or documented.
In this regard, Val considered that «trying to respond to specific cases by promising resources from another institution without even consulting it is not a responsible way to manage a problem as sensitive as the housing emergency that Donostia is suffering».
Patricia Val pointed out that the 766 homes managed by Alokabide in Donostia contrast with the 2,289 in Bilbao and 4,195 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. This difference should lead the Donostia City Council to accelerate urban planning and the transfer of municipal plots in blocked residential areas that could play an essential role in the current housing crisis.
The General Director warned that a serious housing policy should not have reached the point of proposing that the entire protected housing stock be used to address housing emergency situations, displacing those who have long been registered as housing demanders.
On the other hand, Val recalled that the Basque Government is already discreetly and rigorously attending to extraordinary cases arriving from Donostia and other municipalities in Euskadi, when situations of vulnerability are duly accredited through the corresponding municipal reports, acting accordingly to offer housing alternatives.
She stressed that the Basque Government faces these cases without publicity, without publicly projecting the image of the affected individuals, and without promising housing through the media.
Likewise, she recalled the need to maintain institutional coherence in defending the rights of tenants and owners who may face situations of vulnerability.
Val finally insisted that any alternative housing allocation mechanism outside the Basque Government must have the corresponding legal backing and consider the consequences it would have for the demanders registered in Etxebide, whose rights and expectations must also be respected.
