Madrid builds affordable homes in Carabanchel

Madrid City Council said on Sept. 2 that its municipal housing company, EMVS Madrid, had started building more than 70 affordable rental homes in Carabanchel during the summer. The total comes from two developments in the district: Carabanchel 28, with 31 apartments, and Carabanchel 35, with 40. City officials said the homes are intended for affordable rent rather than sale. The announcement adds fresh detail to the city’s effort to expand its public housing stock as rents remain a political and social issue in the Spanish capital. ### Which project is new, and which one was already underway? Sept. 2 was the date Madrid used to present Carabanchel 28, the newer of the two developments. The city said Housing Policies delegate Álvaro González laid the first stone for that project, which carries a municipal budget of more than 10 million euros and includes 31 apartments and 31 parking spaces. July 29 was the date the city had already used to launch Carabanchel 35. That earlier project includes 40 apartments and 60 parking spaces, with a budget of more than 12.4 million euros, according to the city and EMVS Madrid. The combined figure is 71 apartments, which is why city officials described the summer pipeline in Carabanchel as “more than 70” homes. La Razón reported on Sept. 2 that the new project was being added to Carabanchel 35 after that July groundbreaking. ### What kind of homes are being built in Carabanchel? Carabanchel 28 and Carabanchel 35 are both being developed as public housing for affordable rent, the city said. Madrid said the apartments will have two, three and four bedrooms, and will include a parking space and storage room. The rent formula is one of the most specific terms the city has disclosed. Madrid said monthly rent for the homes will never exceed 30% of the household’s income, a threshold the municipality uses in describing its affordable-rental model. AENOR, the Spanish standards and certification body, has certified Carabanchel 35 as a sustainable building, according to the July 29 city release. The Sept. 2 city statement said Carabanchel 28 was also designed under energy-efficiency and sustainability criteria. ### Who is running the program? EMVS Madrid, the Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda y Suelo de Madrid, is the municipal company managing the developments. Álvaro González, who serves as the city’s delegate for housing policies and as president of EMVS Madrid, has fronted both public announcements. Madrid said EMVS manages about 10,000 public housing units and has more than 5,700 additional homes in different stages of development. The city used those figures in both the July and September announcements to place the Carabanchel projects within its wider municipal housing program. Carabanchel is not the only district where EMVS is active, but the city’s Sept. 2 statement focused on the concentration of new starts there over the summer. That framing lets Madrid present the two projects as a single local push in one district rather than as isolated construction sites. ### Why is Carabanchel central to this rollout? Carabanchel is the district named in both project announcements, and both developments are in the PAU de Carabanchel area, according to local coverage. The city did not present the two sites as replacements for one another; it described them as separate promotions advancing in parallel. La Razón and other local reports tied the Sept. 2 announcement to Madrid’s broader affordability debate. The city itself kept its language narrower, saying the projects would add public homes for affordable rent and expand the stock managed by EMVS. ### When will people be able to move in? Mid-2028 is the completion target Madrid gave for Carabanchel 28 in its Sept. 2 release. The city gave the same expected completion window for Carabanchel 35 in its July 29 announcement. That means the next concrete milestone is construction progress over the next two years, with EMVS Madrid overseeing both sites. If the city keeps to the timetable it has published, the 71 affordable rental homes in Carabanchel would be ready by mid-2028 for allocation through Madrid’s public housing system.