At least half of the residential floor area will have to be set aside for price-capped housing in certain zones planned through new public instruments under the Valencian government’s proposed Land Act. The figure is significant, but it is not yet in force and will not apply to every new development. The Consell approved the bill on Friday; the Valencian parliament must now debate it, amend it and vote on it.
That qualification is central to understanding the announcement. According to the regional government’s presentation after its weekly meeting, the 50% minimum would apply to residential areas directly planned through the new public housing instruments where a need has been formally established at municipal or regional level. It does not mean that one in every two homes built from now on across the Valencian Community will be protected housing.
A way to unlock land, not an immediate supply of homes
The bill is intended to let the authorities identify and plan areas where affordable housing is needed, reserving at least half of their residential development capacity for protected homes. It also provides temporary mechanisms to convert underused land or buildings to that purpose. The 50% refers to buildable floor area — the square metres allowed under the plan — rather than necessarily to the final number of homes.
For people looking for somewhere to live, the effects will take time. Parliamentary approval would have to be followed by planning decisions, land management, individual projects and construction. Protected housing is not automatically the same as publicly owned housing: it can be developed by public or private bodies, subject to regional price caps and eligibility rules.
The proposal would replace the current consolidated Land Use, Urban Planning and Landscape Act. The Generalitat argues that repeated amendments since 2014 have made the rules difficult to interpret. One of the announced changes is a basic permit covering essential planning parameters, designed to allow a project to move forward before every item of technical documentation has been reviewed.
Faster permits would still carry mandatory checks
The basic permit would not remove environmental authorisations or legalise a project that conflicts with the applicable plan. The Consell describes it as an initial check of the fundamentals; the rest of the file would still have to be completed. The bill would also set a general six-month period for the authorities to carry out subsequent checks on responsible declarations.
Municipalities with fewer than 1,000 residents, as well as those officially considered at risk of depopulation, would be able to use a simplified planning framework suited to their size. For non-developable land, the government says the law would draw a clearer distinction between ordinary and protected land while retaining inspections, restoration orders and penalties.
The draft reached the Consell after review by the Consell Jurídic Consultiu, the region’s senior legal advisory body. Vice-president Vicente Martínez Mus said almost all of its substantive observations had been incorporated. That review matters because the document can still change in parliament: the final scope of the housing requirement, environmental safeguards and permit deadlines will depend on the wording adopted by the chamber.
The next verifiable milestone will be the bill’s formal registration in Les Corts, followed by publication of its articles and the timetable for amendments. Until then, the 50% figure is a proposed obligation for specific areas, not a rule already in effect or a promise of homes becoming available in the short term.