Lorraine Williamson
A senior municipal politician in Alicante has stepped down in the wake of a heated dispute over the allocation of publicly protected housing, underlining persistent tensions around affordable homes in Spain’s Costa Blanca city. Rocío Gómez, the city’s councillor for Urbanism and Building Preservation, announced her resignation Thursday evening after it emerged she was one of the beneficiaries of a subsidised home that has become the centre of a political storm.
The case has already prompted at least one other resignation — María Pérez-Hickman, director general of Internal Organisation, Public Procurement and Funds Management, left her post after it was revealed that two of her children and a municipal architect also received apartments in the same development.
What triggered the resignation?
The row centres on a new officially protected housing (VPO) project in Playa de San Juan — the first major public housing development in Alicante in around 20 years — where homes are offered at significantly reduced prices compared with the open market.
Gómez, an architect by training who entered politics in 2023, has said she registered with the cooperative managing the development before taking public office and insists she did nothing improper. She told local media she will formalise her resignation in the coming days and is stepping aside so an internal investigation can proceed “without interference.”
Mayor Luis Barcala (People’s Party) has assured the probe will be thorough, promising to pass any indications of wrongdoing to Spain’s Public Prosecutor’s Office and vowing to enforce accountability “come what may.”
Political backlash
While Barcala maintains that, to his knowledge, Gómez did not influence decisions relating to the housing in her official capacity, opposition parties have seized on the controversy to demand transparency and sanctions.
The PSPV-PSOE has said it will take the matter to the Anti-Fraud Agency, calling the situation the biggest housing scandal the city has seen and pointing to long waiting lists of local families desperately seeking affordable homes.
Other groups, including Compromís and Sumar, have called for extraordinary council sessions and independent inquiries, with some preparing to bring the case before the Valencian regional parliament (Les Corts) and anti-corruption prosecutors.
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What this means for Alicante
The scandal comes at a sensitive moment in Alicante’s housing landscape. Demand for affordable homes far outstrips supply, and public-sector schemes such as VPO are politically and socially significant. Critics argue the controversy has damaged confidence in how public housing allocations are managed and fuelled perceptions of unequal access for those connected to political power.
Mayor Barcala has also called for reforms to regional rules governing eligibility and allocation to ensure transparency in future processes.
As the investigation unfolds, attention will focus on whether any procedural or legal lapses occurred and what reforms might be introduced to restore trust in Alicante’s housing programmes. Opposition parties are likely to keep pressure on the municipal government, and potential legal actions could extend beyond local chambers into wider regional and judicial arenas.
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