The Basque Government and the Zarautz City Council have published the agreement for the protected housing at Irita 17.2

The Basque Government and the Zarautz City Council have signed an agreement to promote protected rental housing and endowment accommodation in the Irita 17.2 area, and the agreement was published in issue number 202 of the Official Gazette of the Basque Country on October 22, 2026. The agreement states that the council will cede two plots of land in that area to the Government for the purpose of carrying out public housing construction. The publication was carried out via Resolution 96/2026, which specifies that the text of the agreement is included as an annex.

The text was formalized on September 29 through the electronic headquarters, signed by representatives of both institutions: Denis Itxaso González, Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, and Xabier Txurruka Fernández, Mayor-President of Zarautz. Prior to the signature, the Government Council authorized the agreement at its meeting on September 8, 2026, and the Zarautz City Council did so on May 25, 2026. The resolution for publication in the Gazette was signed on October 5 by Jon Iñaki Urbina García de Vicuña, Director of the Secretariat of the Government and Parliamentary Relations.

Two plots and 18,540 square meters of buildable area

The purpose of the agreement is to promote the development of protected rental housing and endowment accommodation in the Irita 17.2 area —area 17 of the General Urban Plan of Zarautz. To this end, the council will cede full ownership of two plots of land to the General Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, free of charges:

• A plot in the detailed zone «r.1 Residential collective», measuring 4,356 square meters, with a physical buildability of 13,100 square meters, divided into four construction units (r.1/1, r.1/2, r.1/3, and r.1/4, each measuring 3,275 square meters).
• A plot in the detailed zone «eq.3», measuring 1,644 square meters with a buildability of 5,440 square meters, to accommodate a building for endowment accommodation; the profile will consist of two basement floors and six floors above ground.

The housing buildability of the four construction units is linked to the public protection housing regime, specifically the general regime of public protection housing. The «eq.3» plot and the building planned therein are municipal property, held in a residual nature.

The Government will assume urbanization and construction

The Department of Housing and Urban Agenda commits to drafting the Urbanization Action Program, the reparceling project, and the urbanization project, as well as contracting and executing the urbanization and construction works for the protected housing and endowment accommodation. Likewise, it will pay for the urbanization works linked to the area:

• Within the area, the v.2 road network and the el.3 and el.4 free zones.
• Outside the area, the replacement of the pedestrian walkway connecting Indamendi and Maria Etxetxiki streets by constructing a two-way bridge for vehicles.
• The adaptation of parking spaces outside the area.

For its part, the Zarautz City Council has agreed to expedite the urbanization processing as quickly as possible, grant the necessary licenses for the works within a period of four months, and not request any financial guarantee from the Government. Furthermore, it has agreed to establish a 95% rebate on the tax quota for construction, installations, and works, and to declare the promotion as being of municipal interest; this rebate will also apply to the organization Vivienda y Suelo de Euskadi, S.A. (VISESA).

Priority for Zarautz residents

The adjudication of housing will be carried out respecting the procedure and quota reservations of the current regulations. The order of the Housing Department will establish the conditions for participation, and priority will be given to citizens who can prove they have been registered in Zarautz for at least three consecutive years or for five years within the last ten years. As an exception, women who are victims of gender-based violence and persons with a permanent disability of reduced mobility will not be required to prove registration.

A Committee will be formed to monitor the agreement, consisting of four members, two from each party. The agreement has a validity of four years from the date of signing and may be extended for another four years. The grants will be formalized in a public deed within a maximum period of six months after obtaining the Council’s authorization.

Follow-up of a decade of housing policy

This agreement is not the first between Zarautz and the Government. On June 3, 2016, an agreement was signed for the Aldapeta 2.2 area; on December 21, 2017, for endowment housing in the Salberdin 10.2 area; and on November 26, 2018, for protected rental housing at number 1 Lanpardo Street, in the Azken Portu 7-OD area. The first Municipal Housing Plan approved by the Council in 2015 promoted over 600 public protected housing units, 196 of which are rentals; among these are the 25 housing units on Lanpardo Street.

In this context, the Irita 17.2 area was delimited as a result of the amendment to the General Urban Development Plan definitively approved by the city council on July 23, 2024, for the development of protected housing, endowment housing, and free zones. In a broader framework, the second objective of the Pacto Social por la Vivienda (2022-2036) establishes that the sustainable park of public protected housing should make up 12% of the main housing in the Basque Country by 2036, compared to 7.7% in 2021.

The agreement directly affects Zarautz’s housing policy: the council provides the land free of charge and the Government assumes the cost of the promotion and urbanization to increase the offer of protected rentals. The agreement also guarantees the priority of citizens in the adjudication and clearly distributes the urban planning charges, with the operation located within the framework of the heritage regulation and the Ley 3/2015 Housing Law.

Fuente: Boletín Oficial del País Vasco, n.º 202, 22 de octubre de 2026, Otras Disposiciones, pp. 1-10 (official reference: 2026/4431).