The small municipalities that are located around Logroño have become the true protagonists of the Revive Plan (which seeks to combat depopulation, among other objectives) by monopolizing the majority of the 118 aid requests to which young people from Rioja can opt. … up to 45 years old to settle in rural areas. Not in vain, since its launch just three weeks ago, Albelda, Nalda, Agoncillo, Entrena or Alberite appear in the ranking as the towns that have received the greatest number of requests for the acquisition of a home.
In fact, of the total number of requests registered in the purchase modality by the Ministry of Local Policy, Infrastructure and Fight against Depopulation (through the General Directorate of Housing), 12 of them correspond to Agoncillo (a figure that represents the 10.2% of the total), where less than 2,000 people reside. Nalda follows closely, with 9 requests; Albelda de Iregua, with 6; and the municipalities of Alberite, Autol, Entrena and Murillo de Río Leza, where 5 applications were made, respectively, in the aforementioned modality.
Fuenmayor, Navarrete or Uruñuela receive a very similar demand, with 4 requests for help to settle in each of these towns. Less success is experienced by Cenicero (with three requests in this modality), Ezcaray (idem), Ribafrecha (idem), Arnedillo (where two applications have been registered for this subsidy), Arrúbal or Corera (idem). In other municipalities, such as Alesón, Cihuri, Sotés, Cellorigo or Zarratón, only a single purchase request has been registered.
The aid, in any case, aims to modify the unequal distribution of the population in the community, where 46.7% of the inhabitants reside in the capital of Rioja (a figure that represents 150,583 people, of the 322,490 that make up the census) and where almost one in four are gathered in the 165 municipalities that have up to 5,000 inhabitants. The reality, however, is that the bulk of the applications made so far – the call will remain open until 2027 – are concentrated in the vicinity of Logroño, less than half an hour by car.
In relation to this data, the Minister of Local Policy, Daniel Osés, recognizes that although “we see an important territorial distribution throughout La Rioja, the metropolitan area of Logroño is attracting population due to its strategic location, because they can reside in a town “which is close to the capital of Rioja with all the positive conditions that life in rural areas always implies.”
Another factor that, in his opinion, justifies greater demand in these small municipalities is the “housing stock” that “had not been sold in recent years.” Hence, with this “very important help that we offer to young people, the metropolitan area continues its growth trend.” For this reason, he explains, “we wanted to make positive discrimination towards rural areas, towards those municipalities with less than 500 inhabitants, which have up to 40,000 euros of aid so that young people can have the means and mechanisms necessary to settle in “any municipality in our autonomous community.”
Rehabilitation
The call also offers direct help for self-promotion or building rehabilitation, but so far only one request has been registered to restore a home in Quel. A situation that, according to the head of Local Policy, is determined because these processes are not as fast as the purchase, which only requires “writing and making the decision; because rehabilitation and self-promotion imply the writing of projects and other conditions.
The regional Executive’s confidence is that these modalities will receive “a greater reception, especially rehabilitation.” Above all, because there are times when “there is a lack of land or housing, but we also have houses that are falling down. We hope that this plan encourages both the owners to put them up for sale on the market, and the young people of La Rioja so that they can rehabilitate them.” All of this, Osés points out, will allow “the historic centers of the municipalities to be rehabilitated and their homes renovated.”
Open convocatory
The subsidies can be requested throughout the legislature so that young people from La Rioja “can make with complete peace of mind a decision as important as establishing a life project in a municipality, because the Government is going to support them.” The balance of applications registered so far is “extraordinarily positive because it is being very well received.” Therefore, it will serve “to cover housing needs and combat depopulation.”
