The Government of the Canary Islands will be able to buy unfinished housing in the face of the "housing emergency"

The Government of the Canary Islands plans to approve next week the decree law of urgent measures regarding housing, with which it hopes to face the situation of "housing emergency" in the islands and that will open the option of acquiring properties among the approximately 3,000 unfinished or unsold homes that belong to investment funds and the so-called "bad bank", Sareb.

In a press conference, Rodríguez explained this Monday the details of the decree with which he intends to respond to the "serious" housing situation in the Canary Islands and the claims of the construction sector and the real estate market to reactivate its construction, where the demanders are estimated at more than 20,000 -according to data from the Canary Islands Housing Institute (Icavi)-, so the 3,000 homes planned for this term are insufficient.

The decree of urgent measures seeks to increase the supply of protected housing, especially both public and private; simplify the procedures required for its construction in order to reduce the time it takes by half; increase the availability of land with the new solutions it proposes and promote buildings.

Rodríguez has indicated that in order to solve the problem of the scarce land available to many municipalities on the islands, land that remains "idle" in the general systems, as well as partial plans for undeveloped facilities, may be used for the construction of public protection housing.

In addition, it will be compatible to change undeveloped urban tourist land to residential, provided that one third of the homes are protected, and residential developable land may be recovered, also dedicating 50% to protected housing.

Commercial premises and offices may change to residential use, it will be allowed to raise the height in constructions and the division of housing, provided that a part is conditioned to protected housing, in addition, collective housing or 'cohousing' will be promoted for the first time and the conclusion of unfinished urbanizations will be promoted.

The counselor has advanced that he is holding conversations with Sareb to acquire the more than 300 homes it has in the Canary Islands, as well as with investment funds, including the one with the largest park in the islands, about 1,400.

Rodríguez stressed that the measures they intend to apply have been devised for anthropized land so as not to occupy more, and that in no case includes rustic land, as well as to promote housing in the most touristy and "stressed" municipalities, reduce execution times and promote the 'cohousing' modality.

To speed up the management and processing of housing construction, the transfer of land by the municipalities to the Canary Islands Government will be immediate from its approval by the municipal plenary, which "cuts this procedure by 14 months"; the construction of public promotion protected housing will be of general interest and the urgency will be declared in all procedures for the construction of protected housing.

In order to promote, boost and facilitate the construction of protected housing, he has advanced that the new decree law introduces changes in the Housing Law and Decree Law 24/2020.

Regarding the modifications in the law, he detailed that it is provided that the legal regime of protection of public promotion housing will be permanent, except for exceptions; the monthly rent may not exceed 20% of the monthly income of the family unit; the councils may promote the construction of protected housing; and the shared housing modality is regulated.

In relation to the decree, the 'Canarian basic module' is updated and territorialized by islands, which is the reference value to determine the maximum prices of sale, award and rent of housing, so that in the two capital islands it will go from 1,500 euros per square meter to 1,905.26 euros, while in the rest it rises to 2,133.89 euros, since construction is more expensive in the smaller islands.

This measure, according to the counselor, is a "revulsive" for construction.

Likewise, the maximum income per family unit for access to protected housing is revised, which is increased to five times the IPREM (public indicator of income for multiple effects).

Rodríguez also stressed the social improvements that this decree law entails due to the creation of employment that is expected with the boost of the sector, for greater access to public housing and because it will help to balance the market and that the price of rent and sale decreases in the free market.

For the counselor, this is an "ambitious" project, which aims not only to facilitate the construction of public housing, but also that the planned for this term, the 3,000 that will be built according to the Canary Islands Housing Plan, the State Plan and the European MRR funds, are executed more quickly, he stressed.

However, he stressed that the effect of these measures will depend largely on the degree of involvement of the private sector. EFE