The Hiria Forum, organized by Diario de Noticias de Navarra and sponsored by Nasuvinsa, has been reorganised under the title “FORO-HIRIA : Public-private partnership in affordable rental housing”, with active participation as a speaker of the round table by Mª José Ballarín, secretary of iCONS.
The event began with the welcome of Joseba Santamaria director of DIARIO DE NOTICIAS, followed by the institutional opening by Begoña Alfaro, Third Vice-President and Counsellor of Housing, Youth and Migration Policies of the Government of Navarra, who has emphasized two important issues:
- There is a problem of access to affordable housing, mainly due to high purchase and rental prices rather than the lack of housing.
- The need for public administrations to act with all available tools to face this challenge that affects citizenship
- Proposed solutions: Announced the intention to create a joint venture with public and private capital (50% participation between both parties), to promote the construction of affordable rental housing.
Also, two round tables were held to propose and value public – private collaboration from different business perspectives, in order to promote affordable housing for citizens in Navarre.
- First table: Moderated by Javier Burón managing director of Nasuvinsa, with the participation of authorities and representatives from the housing sector: Mario Yoldi, director of Planning and Operational Processes for Housing in the Basque Government; Berta Úriz, director of the Department of Housing in Nasuvinsa; Enrique Blanco, director of Corporate and Institutional Financing at ICO; Leire Iglesias, general manager of SEPES; Francisco Javier Martín, Director-General of Housing and Land in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda of the Government of Spain.
- Second table: Moderated by Alejandra Mora, founding member of ARENHOS, specialized consultancy in the sector of affordable housing, with the participation of Manel Rodríguez, Manel Rodríguez, General Director of the SALAS Group; Manuel Ibáñez, from Real Estate DWS; Mª José Ballarín, secretaria de iCONS (Clúster de la Industrialización de la Construcción Navarra); and Juan Antonio Las Navas, President of the Association of Builders and Promoters of Navarre
The event was closed by Maite Arrondo, general director of Housing of the Government of Navarra, who concluded the event with the following headlines:
- Over the next 4 years they will expand the social housing park and affordable “building a more humane and fairer navarre requires long-term vision and ambition”
- Housing policies will be Europeanized, through references such as Housing Europe, which is the largest European lobby for social, public and cooperative housing; It explains the formulas followed by those countries that have best coped with successive housing crises and the financing and privatization processes they have carried out to make it possible.
- The Government of Navarra is looking to expand the social housing park not only with own resources (direct promotion) but also through alliances and collaborations with actors:
- public – private
- public-cooperative (with cooperatives under the regime of transfer of use)
- Public-community “Public-Private Partnerships” (PPPs)
- For the citizens, the measures to be implemented by the Government of Navarra mean having 3 types of housing: social, affordable and free.
Some conclusions:
✔ Public-private dialogue is absolutely essential
✔ There’s money to invest, but you have to invest it differently
✔ Industrialization is the medium and channel, and it’s already profitable
❌ Lack of a lot of housing, in general, not only affordable
❌ Lack of soil to develop
❌ It is necessary to ensure formulas of profitability to make the instruments viable
Thank you very much Diario de Noticias de Navarra for the invitation to the event, to the other speakers (very high level) and presential attendees (always a pleasure to meet old and new travel companions) and virtual.
