Valencia’s regional and city governments have agreed on a sweeping reconstruction plan for La Torre, the district hardest hit by the October 2024 floods. The protocol, signed by Generalitat president Juanfran Pérez Llorca and Valencia mayor María José Catalá, sets in motion a Special Urban Reconstruction Plan (PEUR) that will deliver 1,206 public housing units and 7,000 square meters of public facilities, including a new health centre. The disaster, known as a DANA, caused 237 deaths across Spain, including 229 in the Comunitat Valenciana, information from figures attributed to Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
The initiative addresses two urgent priorities: repairing flood damage and expanding access to affordable housing. Of the new homes, 981 will be available for purchase and 225 for affordable rent, with the aim of supporting families affected by the disaster and easing the broader housing shortage in the metropolitan area. The plan uses a special urban-planning instrument for reconstruction, not a conventional residential-development route.
Authorities say the new buildings will meet higher safety standards. All homes will be elevated to improve ability to recover against future floods, and there will be no underground parking. Introduced under the Generalitat’s 2025 emergency urban planning law, the PEUR mechanism is designed to speed recovery by streamlining land development and permitting processes, bypassing the slower procedures of general urban plans. Environmental and urban-planning critics, but, question whether those building-level measures address the wider risks of developing in a flood-prone location. El Temps reported critics’ concern that the project would amount to an “occupation of land in a hydrologically critical area” and conflict with recommendations against urbanising flood-vulnerable spaces.
Pérez Llorca praised the regional administration’s speed and efficiency, contrasting its response with the national government’s slower pace. He called for reforms to Spain’s contract and local government laws, noting that only about 5% of the €1.7 billion transferred by Madrid for reconstruction has been spent so far. The Generalitat, by comparison, claims to have completed 90% of its required civil works and launched all relevant initiatives under its Pla Endavant program. These figures are part of a much larger reconstruction effort: Actualidad Valencia reported that affected municipalities had submitted more than 1,100 infrastructure-repair projects, financed with €1.745 billion from the Spanish Government. Reconstruction commissioner Zulima Pérez said the national administration had invested close to €10 billion in affected areas over almost two years and described cooperation with Generalitat commissioner Raúl Mérida as “very good.”
Separate figures reported by iAgua show how implementation has varied across reconstruction programs. By the time of its report, €214.6 million of €268.2 million in emergency hydraulic works had been executed. Aid for replacing damaged water networks had reached an execution rate of 21.64% in June. These broader infrastructure figures cover programmes across affected areas, not the La Torre plan itself.
Vice President Vicente Martínez Mus described the La Torre plan as an chance to introduce climate adaptation measures into local urbanism and tackle structural barriers to housing access, with the aim of stimulating economic and social renewal in the area. Mayor Catalá said both administrations were committed to expanding housing opportunities and building a stronger, safer neighbourhood while restoring what was lost. The city has already invested over €30 million in renewing La Torre’s drainage and roads, while also upgrading lighting and community facilities.
The PEUR for La Torre is part of a broader Generalitat push to develop public housing across the region, including through its Plan Vive. The approach echoes efforts in other Spanish cities to address housing needs alongside urban ability to recover. In Barcelona’s Eixample and Gràcia districts, authorities have struggled to enforce licence freezes amid a rise in tourist apartments. For more on the challenges of urban housing policy in Spain, see this analysis of Barcelona’s tourist apartment surge.
La Torre’s reconstruction is expected to set a precedent for how Spanish municipalities can respond to climate-driven disasters while addressing chronic housing needs. The plan combines expedited planning with public housing, while adapting the neighbourhood to flood risk. Its outcome may influence similar initiatives across Spain as authorities confront the combined pressures of flood risk and housing demand.
