At the southwesternmost point of Lanzarote stands a lighthouse built 160 years ago. It is the Pechiguera Lighthouse, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) at the beginning of the century and in a state of ruin for decades. Next to this monument, there are dozens of half-built and abandoned houses that serve as a refuge for around 250 working families, a number of residents that has not stopped growing in recent years due to the housing crisis plaguing Lanzarote.
This development, located between Austria, Denmark, and Greece streets, was abandoned by the real estate company Inversur Lanzarote SL two decades ago. The construction of these homes was halted in 2006 due to its impact on the 19th-century lighthouse. Although the developer tried to remove the protection measures for this element, they did not succeed, so they decided to abandon the property and left the homes unfinished.
Later, it was the group Coral Homes SL, a real estate company owned by the Lone Star fund and the entity CaixaBank, and owner of more than 35,000 properties nationwide, according to its own website, who acquired the land and has initiated eviction proceedings against the residents.
The lack of housing alternatives has led hundreds of families to opt for crowding into these unfinished constructions, many without roofs, doors, or windows. The holes initially opened for the swimming pools have been reused by the occupants as cisterns to supply water to their homes using tankers they hire from a company, but for electricity, they hook up to the street.
An eviction order for November 19
Among the residents who have settled in the substandard housing of the Pechiguera Lighthouse is Elizabeth Estrada, who presides over an association on the island for the right to housing for migrants, and who is one of the two households with an eviction order for the upcoming November 19. In her case, she lives in one of the substandard housing units in the area with six other family members, including three minors aged two, eight, and nine.
Estrada moved into one of these buildings in 2019 with her husband after leaving a rented apartment when her landlady informed her she was going to sell the flat. "They sold it and we had to leave, we couldn't find anything, the lady who bought the flat only gave us six months to vacate it, so we had to go to the lighthouse," she recalls.
She was born in Colombia and even though she had a technical administrative degree in her country, she has not yet been able to validate her studies in Spain, so she works as a room attendant in a hotel. Her husband also works in the hospitality sector in the south of Lanzarote.
Her son, his wife, and her grandchildren moved into this substandard housing with them in 2024, after the DANA in Valencia destroyed the room where he and his wife were renting in the Comunitat. "I'll put it this way, he was hungry, the family was hungry, and he came here to us," she recounts, "he lived in an apartment near the river that took everything," she adds.
He said: "I'm starving, she's about to give birth because the pregnancy was very advanced, so we told her 'come here, where one eats, two eat' and she's with us now." Once settled on the island, her son works as a bricklayer and her daughter-in-law as a waitress. "We built a structure, we made a kitchen, a bathroom... and we live comfortably within our means," she assures. This is not the case for other neighbors, as Estrada narrates that there are families with up to 12 people living in the same substandard housing.
They report threats
In their case, the situation has become increasingly unsustainable in recent weeks, when they have reported that eviction companies have blocked the entrances to the property with stones, preventing the tanker truck from accessing which they hire for bottled water delivery.
Furthermore, Estrada has filed a judicial complaint against a company for the alleged threats she has received for leading the neighborhood movement against the eviction.
In her case, with a stable job on the island, she assures that she never thought of requesting a vulnerability certificate. "I thought it was for people who really had nothing to eat, so I never applied for it, but now that they are going to evict us, I saw the need," she narrates. Although she went to request it at the town hall, at the Yaiza City Council they told her that she had an eviction order, which, although it is in the name of another person she does not know, does correspond to the number of her substandard housing.
For now, Estrada cannot find housing alternatives that would allow her to find a home with her family. She has found housing advertisements, some for up to 1,800 euros per month. "One salary to pay the rent and another to live," she lamented. However, when she has contacted landlords, she has found that they ask for up to four months' payment in advance.
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