The municipal government of Getafe has denounced the plan of the Community of Madrid to privatise the Youth Hostels Network and the Environmental Education Programme, which affects services used by the youth of the municipality.
The Getafe City Council has raised its voice against the plans of the Community of Madrid to privatise the management of public Youth Hostels and the Environmental Education Programme, a service with over 38 years of history. The decision of the regional government, which plans to hand over management to private companies starting in 2027, has generated strong rejection in the Getafe council, which believes that an essential public service for the youth of the region is at risk.
The Councillor for Youth, Elena Sánchez, has been the one to convey the local government's position. “The privatisation of youth hostels and shelters is another step in the Community of Madrid government's plan to hand over public services that we have been using in Getafe for decades to private hands, one by one,” the councillor stated. Sánchez emphasised the “enormous uncertainty” that this measure generates, both regarding the fees that will be applied and the continuity of the Environmental Education Programme, which has benefited generations of Getafe youth.
Getafe is one of the municipalities that makes the most of this network of facilities. The regional youth hostels and shelters are the foundation of multiple local initiatives aimed at youth. Specifically, they are fundamental for the Youth Correspondents Network of the Community of Madrid, which in Getafe is articulated through the ‘Enrédate con Getafe’ programme. In the last school year, this programme had 34 correspondents from 21 educational centres in the municipality.
Furthermore, the network of hostels supports the activities of the City Correspondents programme and the outings of the Outdoor Activities for Youth programme, which each year allow dozens of Getafe youth to participate in outdoor and community activities. The potential privatisation jeopardises these initiatives, which depend on the existence of affordable public spaces managed with social criteria.
Another aspect that concerns the Getafe City Council is the situation of the workers in the network. The Community of Madrid has not clarified what will happen to the current staff, made up of more than 150 professionals. The job uncertainty adds to the loss of the public nature of the facilities, which has led the council to formally request the regional administration to immediately halt the privatisation process.
In its request, the Getafe City Council urges the Community of Madrid to provide the network with the necessary resources to guarantee its social function and ensure the continuity of the Environmental Education Programme. “We demand that the public management of these spaces be maintained, which are a reference for the education and leisure of our youth,” Sánchez insisted.
The decision of the Community of Madrid affects the entire region but has a particular impact in Getafe, where the network of hostels has become a key tool for youth policies. The City Council fears that if privatisation goes ahead, fees will skyrocket and many young people will be excluded from activities that have so far been accessible to all.
The municipal government has shown its willingness to collaborate with the Community of Madrid to seek alternatives to avoid privatisation, but so far it has not received a response. Meanwhile, the Councillor for Youth has called for citizen mobilisation to defend the public nature of these services. “We will not allow the rights of our youth to be cut. The hostels and the environmental education programme are a heritage of all Madrilenians, and in Getafe, we are willing to fight for them,” she concluded.
The controversy is framed within a broader debate about the management of public services in the Community of Madrid, where the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso has promoted various privatisations in areas such as health and education in recent years. In this case, the youth hostels network and the environmental education programme are two of the longest-standing and most valued services by citizens, which has led to strong opposition to their potential privatisation in several municipalities in the region.
For the moment, the Getafe City Council will continue to pressure the Community of Madrid to reverse its plans. Next week, a meeting is scheduled between the Councillor for Youth and representatives of the Regional Federation of Neighbourhood Associations of Madrid (FRAVM) to coordinate joint actions. Additionally, social mobilisations are being studied to make visible the rejection of privatisation.
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