The Provincial Council distributes 3.47 million among 36 municipalities against depopulation

The Governing Board of the Diputació de Lleida approved on November 2, 2026, the resolution for the call for grants to local entities to address the demographic challenge, line 1, 2026 annuality, with an award of €3,470,904.76 to 36 local entities in the counties of Lleida. The agreement, adopted in ordinary session no. 36/2026, is published in edict 9360 of the BOP de Lleida no. 213, dated November 6, 2026, with the official reference BOP-2026_0_213_9360 (pp. 1-15). The document is signed by the president of the corporation, Joan Talarn Gilabert, dated November 5, 2026.

The guidelines supporting the call come from the General Regulatory Bases for the granting of subsidies of the Diputació de Lleida, approved by the Plenary on November 28, 2024, and definitively approved by the Presidency resolution 2025/140, dated February 18, 2025. The specific guidelines for line 1 were approved in session 07/2026 of the Governing Board on March 9, 2026, and the extract was published in the BOP de Lleida no. 2072 on March 18, 2026. The application submission period ran from March 19 to April 17, 2026.

According to data from the Municipal Planning and Cooperation Area, 77 applications were submitted. Additionally, there is a registry entry from the City Council of Cubells, no. 13521 dated April 20, 2026, which was not admitted due to late submission. The evaluation commission met on September 22, 2026, and corrected a material error in the scoring of file 2937/2026 from the City Council of Tremp, which is set at 40 points without altering the award proposal.

3.47 million out of a total of 3.5 million

The agreement modifies the distribution of the expenditure authorization phase without altering the total authorized amount. The credit for the Cooperation Plan to fight depopulation (budget application 2026 040 942 7620010) increases from €3,300,000.00 to €3,470,904.76, thanks to a transfer of €170,904.76 coming from the line for smaller local entities (2026 040 942 7680010), which is left with €29,095.24. The total for the program is €3,500,000.00.

The resulting distribution is as follows:

• Amount awarded: €3,470,904.76, charged to the 2026 financial year.
• Beneficiary local entities: 36 (municipalities and decentralized municipal entities).
• Maximum grant per project: up to 95% of the cost of the action and €100,000 per application.
• Global weight of the aid over the cost of the actions: 47.83%.
• Applications rejected due to lack of sufficient credit: 38 (annex 2).
• Applications not admitted, withdrawn, or rejected: 3 (annex 3).
• Balance of released credit: €29,095.24.

Housing in depopulated Catalonia

The purpose of the line is to finance actions that allow for the stabilization of the population, and in annexes 1a and 1b, almost all projects are for the acquisition, rehabilitation, or construction of housing intended for primary residence rental or endowment housing. Each region has its highest-scoring application recognized in annex 1a:

• City Council of La Vansa i Fórnols (Alt Urgell): two dwellings in Sorribes, €100,000 and 85 points.
• City Council of Vilaller (Alta Ribagorça): “Claus pel Despoblament” project, €100,000 and 58 points.
• City Council of Gósol (Berguedà): renovation of the rectory, €100,000 and 40.5 points.
• City Council of Montellà i Martinet (Cerdanya): municipal housing, €100,000 and 68.5 points.
• City Council of Juncosa (Garrigues): third floor of the former municipal headquarters for endowment housing, €100,000 and 67.5 points.
• City Council of Camarasa (Noguera): property at Santa Maria street 40, €100,000 and 71 points.
• City Council of Gavet de la Conca (Pallars Jussà): housing in Sant Serni, €100,000 and 75 points.
• City Council of Tírvia (Pallars Sobirà): ground floor of a property, €100,000 and 65.5 points.
• City Council of Torrebesses (Segrià): multi-family building with four dwellings, €100,000 and 57.5 points.
• City Council of Naut Aran (Val d’Aran): multi-family building at Dera Pica square in Salardú, €100,000 and 63.5 points.

Annex 1b adds 22 more beneficiaries, including City Council of la Fuliola (€98,175.91), City Council of Preixana (€38,642), City Council of Puigverd d’Agramunt (€88,532), City Council of Avellanes i Santa Linya (€89,000), or City Council of Granyena de Garrigues (€89,693.10). Decentralized municipal entities also appear, such as EMD de Gerb, EMD d’Os de Civís, EMD de Taús, EMD d’Aranya, EMD d’Aubèrt e Betlan, EMD de Pla de la Font, EMD d’Ainet de Besan, and EMD de Vilac, all with lower amounts because their projects are at the bottom of the priority list.

Deadline until January 17, 2027

The processing reaches the resolution with the calendar exhausted: the Governing Board agreed on October 5, 2026, in session 32/2026, to extend the resolution and notification deadline by three months, so that the final maximum deadline ends on January 17, 2027. The file contains the Audit report on basic requirements, favorable with observations, dated October 20, 2026, and the favorable opinion of the Commission for municipal cooperation, territorial action, and environment dated October 26, 2026.

The resolution will not be notified individually, but will instead be published in the BOP and on the Provincial Council’s website, and the grant will be communicated to the National Grants Database. Against the agreement, which exhausts administrative remedies, a contentious-administrative appeal may be filed before the Contentious-Administrative Section of the Court of First Instance of Lleida within two months, or an appeal for reversal within one month.

The 3.47 million arrive when the debate on access to housing in the rural world is most vivid, and they do so with a formula that prioritizes the rehabilitation of empty properties and disused municipal facilities. For the beneficiary town councils, the aid is the means to move forward with primary residence rental apartments that would hardly emerge from the municipal budget; for the 38 councils that are left out due to lack of credit, on the other hand, the call leaves projects stalled awaiting a future annual allocation.

Source: BOP de Lleida, no. 213 of November 6, 2026, Local Administration - Diputació de Lleida, pp. 1-15 (official reference: BOP-2026_0_213_9360).