The National Executive Committee (CEN) of Coalición Canaria agreed this Thursday to vote in favor of the first housing decree and to emphatically reject the second. The nationalists will support the first text despite considering it insufficient and in need of changes, and they have also secured a commitment to incorporate into the first legislative text to be processed the possibility of limiting housing purchases by non-residents in the Canary Islands.
The national organization secretary of CC, David Toledo, criticized the State Government's approach. “After eight years, you cannot expect to solve a problem of this magnitude with two decrees, hastily done, and giving groups 48 hours to analyze them. You cannot continue governing by improvisation,” he stated.
Toledo defended that Coalición Canaria will once again apply “the Canarian way of doing politics” in contrast to the bloc dynamics. “We are not here to choose a side. We are here to dialogue, reach agreements, and achieve solutions that improve people's lives,” he pointed out.
A critical yes to change the first decree
Coalición Canaria made it clear that its favorable vote this Friday in the Congress of Deputies for the first decree does not represent a blank check. “There are many issues we disagree with and it has a lot of room for improvement,” Toledo assured.
CC will take advantage of its processing as a bill to propose changes that recognize the singularities of the Canary Islands, increase housing supply, and reduce bureaucratic burdens. Among them, it will advocate for administrative silence to be positive when six months pass without a resolution on building permits.
“The housing problem will not be solved if we do not manage to have more houses on the market,” Toledo maintained, also calling for greater legal guarantees for owners and tenants and measures to allow vulnerable people to cease being so.
The nationalists also highlighted the commitment reached to incorporate into the first legislative text to be processed the possibility of limiting housing purchases by non-residents in the Canary Islands.
Toledo argued that the Canary Islands need their own instruments to address demographic, tourist, and residential pressure that is not comparable to that of other territories. “Limiting housing purchases by non-residents is a fundamental measure for the Canary Islands,” he stated.
The nationalist leader insisted that the objective is to protect access to housing for those who live on the islands against the acquisition of properties that remain empty for a good part of the year. “We cannot allow speculation with housing in the Canary Islands while our people have difficulties finding a place to live,” he stated.
Toledo recalled that CC has been defending this measure for some time. “When we put it on the table, some said they were political whims. Today we have managed to open the way for it to become a reality.”
“Resounding no” to the second decree
Coalición Canaria will vote, on the contrary, against the second decree, considering that it generates legal uncertainty, leaves small owners unprotected, and may cause the withdrawal of housing from the rental market.
“We are radically opposed to this decree. It is a real nonsense,” stated Toledo.
The number two of the Canarian nationalists particularly questioned the economic compensation provided for in certain cases of non-renewal of contracts and warned of its possible consequences on a market that already has a serious problem of lack of supply.
“The practical effect may be that hundreds or thousands of houses are withdrawn from the market in the Canary Islands when we are already experiencing a real housing emergency,” he stated.
Toledo recalled that around nine out of ten residential rentals are, according to data handled by CC, in the hands of small owners and argued that public policies must offer guarantees to both parties.
“We have to protect all the people of this land, the tenants and also the small owners. We need more housing, more legal certainty, and more supply, not measures that cause even fewer houses to be available on the market,” he concluded.
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