The mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, held a meeting this Monday at the Town Hall with the director of the Canarian Housing Institute (ICAVI), Antonio Jesús Ortega, to discuss matters of “supreme interest and priority for the municipality” such as the construction project of 136 public housing units intended for affordable rent in Playa Blanca.
“The Government guarantees that the 35 million euro project will be executed no matter what, it also confirms the approval of the file and the municipal license, in case there was any doubt with the annulment of the General Plan of 2014, which on our part there never was, and informs that it is studying its financing with European FEDER funds, therefore, today it cannot assure a specific date for the bidding of works”, emphasizes the southern leader.
In addition, he thanks the Government once again for “the inter-administrative collaboration and the political and technical will to resolve and bring to fruition complex projects with a lot of paperwork like the one at hand”.
The mayor requested a meeting with the regional Executive last July, concerned about the delay in the bidding process for the works that was initially scheduled for June. Óscar Noda details that “the project is only pending a report from the Island Water Council and the Government of the Canary Islands deciding on the financing route, counting, of course, on the investment promise of 10 million euros from the Cabildo, pending incorporation of treasury surpluses”.
Regarding the financing of the Autonomous Community, the Government is considering several options due to the proximity of the execution deadlines for the European funds of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (MRR), apparently, without a margin of extension beyond June 2026. If the European Commission extends the deadlines, the project will be executed through the MRR mechanism, otherwise, there is the option of FEDER funds. In any case, ICAVI guarantees Yaiza the construction of the homes.
The City Council ceded in due time and form the plot of 42,000 m² where these public housing units of 50 m² of useful surface will be built, whose affordable rent will be managed by ICAVI. The mayor advances that “we have already conveyed to the Director of Housing our willingness to cede more plots that we will contemplate in the new General Plan of Yaiza in order to give way to future public housing construction projects within the framework of the new Housing Plan of the Canary Islands”.
42 homes awaiting Government - Cabildo agreement
On the other hand, with respect to the delivery of the 42 homes acquired by the Island Council in the second phase of the Los Ajaches residential complex in Playa Blanca, the Government maintains that it is pending the signing of the transfer agreement with the First Island Corporation, which is processing the file to include them in its inventory of assets and then adopt the plenary agreement of transfer. ICAVI will study the applications of people registered in the municipality as housing applicants who meet the required requirements. Housing will carry out a pilot test in the Canary Islands with these homes regarding the filtering of information from applicants.
With this project, "Yaiza took a step forward in Lanzarote to alleviate the lack of housing quickly." The City Council urged Club Lanzarote at the time, through the tool of the Supplementary General Planning Plan of Yaiza (2014), the reservation of the plot of the Los Ajaches residential complex to be used for the construction of buildings under a private promotion protected housing regime. Yaiza asks Vivienda to purchase 76 more houses from the third phase of this same residential complex that is under construction.
