The Minister of Tourism of the Government of the Canary Islands, Jessica de León, assured this Friday that the unregulated and unlimited growth of vacation rentals is "inevitably" affecting residents, who in some areas pay "exorbitant" prices for an apartment.
The Minister, in a press conference, lamented that there are workers who cannot access housing at a reasonable price that allows them to rent, work and live, which she said makes it difficult, among other factors, to find employment in the islands.
For this reason, she continued, the Government of the Canary Islands has made a public consultation on the future Law on Sustainable Planning of tourist housing use, which ended last Monday with 5,400 allegations.
"Tourism is a transversal activity that affects everything and also, at this time, is affecting housing," said the Minister, who defended the right of residents to have "a rent and a home in decent conditions."
Once the consultation is finished, the next step is to prepare the draft for which she said that the Government will count "on everyone" and "also with society."
The draft Law will be ready by the end of January
She has also advanced that the forecast is that the text of the draft law will enter the Government at the end of January and from there its parliamentary procedure will begin.
In addition, she has stated that, nevertheless, as reflected in the surveys of the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics, 80% of Canarians consider that tourism "has been good or very good" for the development of the Canary Islands.
She insisted that the Canarian society supports this sector and has referred to a change in the tourism model, in which the visitor resides in the neighborhoods and the worker in the tourist areas.
"This inevitably generates a shock and a confrontation," said the Minister, who explained that the vacation housing located in residential neighborhoods raises the price of rent.
However, she has clarified that it is not the only factor, because, in her opinion, a bad state housing law has caused 40% of the housing to leave the residential market in the Canary Islands.
All this, she added, "has made the social response increasingly widespread," although it is not a problem only in the Canary Islands but also in cities such as New York, Paris or Lisbon.
Faced with this situation in which "there is beginning to be a response and rejection," she indicated that the Canarian Government is acting in a "preventive" way and "has decided that looking the other way is not an option."
