Madrid City Council has awarded two municipal plots for 95 collaborative homes for older people. That was announced on Monday. These are not 95 finished flats and not a move out of care homes. They are two 75-year concessions, on unused land, in Hortaleza and Ciudad Lineal.

In Hortaleza, on Calle Isabel Clara Eugenia in Sanchinarro, the La Colina cooperative was given 4,300 square metres for 55 homes. In Ciudad Lineal, on Calle Llanos de Escudero, Meridiano Uno Sociedad Cooperativa Madrileña has 4,387 square metres for 40 homes. El Mundo and the city statement match on the figures.

The model is senior cohousing: a private dwelling, with a kitchen and an adapted bathroom, plus common rooms, gardens, and at least half the units for reduced mobility. It is not a nursing home. It is not a promise that the 180,000 people over 65 who live alone in Madrid will get keys. It is another way of living, on an award sheet.

Only non-profit bodies could bid. Residents, when there are any, must take part in decisions and in the economic management. The entities must look after those who need more help, so that people can stay in the community as long as possible. That is in the tender, not in a care contract signed today.

Planning and social policy worked together. The figure is in the 2023 planning rules, after a regional resolution in 2022. Madrid says it is the first city hall to put it in the code. First does not mean houses built. Until the working drawings, the plots remain awarded ground.

El Mundo writes that the council wants an alternative to traditional residences. An alternative, not a shutdown of care homes. 95 is the sum of the two lots. Other land in the 21 districts, including Orcasitas, is another file, still unawarded in this announcement.

Image: Draceane, Hortaleza, Madrid, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; the district, not the Sanchinarro plot.

Sources consulted: Madrid seeks an alternative to care homes with 95 collaborative dwellings - El Mundo; Madrid awards two municipal plots for 95 collaborative homes for older people in Hortaleza and Ciudad Lineal - Diario de Madrid.