The Government of the Canary Islands announced this Friday that it was going to begin the award phase for 42 social housing units in Playa Blanca (Yaiza). These protected homes were built in a private development and acquired by the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Canary Housing Institute (ICAVI) in January 2025. However, their award was delayed for a year and nine months due to bureaucratic reasons.
Despite this announcement, Canary Islands has not finished a single protected home this legislature. This is evident from the most recent data published by the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (ISTAC), dependent on the Canary Islands Government, on its website, updated until March 2026.
The last social housing units completed in the archipelago were registered in January 2022, during the presidency of Ángel Víctor Torres (PSOE) at the head of the Canary Islands Government. At that time, the works for 208 publicly promoted social housing units were concluded.
That legislature ended with only 268 protected-regime homes completed by the archipelago's public institutions (60 in September 2019 and another 208 in January 2022). Meanwhile, between 2019 and 2022, 18,177 private homes have been completed.
In the last three years, between June 2023 and March 2026, the Executive formed by Coalición Canaria and the Partido Popular and led by Fernando Clavijo (CC) has not finished any social housing, despite the housing crisis plaguing the archipelago. In this period, 6,917 privately promoted homes, intended for the free market, have been completed.
If we go back a decade, between 2016 and 2025 (as a full year), 22,679 free-market homes were completed in the Canary Islands. In this period, only 412 public homes were completed.
In the last ten years, the Canary Islands has only initiated the construction of 999 protected homes, with the largest amount registered in 2025. That year, the Canary Housing Institute began the works for 134 social housing units in Los Geranios, the first stone was laid in November 2024. Then another 67 homes were added. The execution period for two of the buildings was 20 months and both already have the completion certificate.
For the moment, the project for another 201 official protected housing units on the adjacent plot, managed by Visocan, remains stalled.
According to data from the Efe Agency, at the national level, the number of free access homes started grew by 10.6% compared to the first half of 2025, that is, 7 points less than in the Canary Islands.
Add La Voz de Lanzarote as a preferred Google source.
Stay informed with the latest current news.