The Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sebastián Franquis, informed the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda this Wednesday of the availability of land in different municipalities of the islands, thus initiating the procedure for the transfer of land for the construction of 997 new homes under affordable rental schemes for families and workers who, due to their income, are unable to pay high rents.
In this way, "it is intended to alleviate and correct the imbalances in the rental market in certain urban and tourist areas of the Canary Islands, where there is enormous difficulty in accessing housing under rental schemes due to the scarcity of supply and the increase in prices," Franquis said.
The list of land sent to the Ministry by the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Housing, totals 92,897.25 square meters distributed among the islands of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, which have areas especially strained by rental prices. The municipalities that have joined this Plan after the request made by the Government of the Canary Islands have been: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Candelaria, Guía de Isora and San Miguel de Abona, on the island of Tenerife; Arucas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Mogán, on the island of Gran Canaria; Arrecife and Yaiza in Lanzarote; and Puerto del Rosario and La Oliva in Fuerteventura.
With this Plan, the State promotes the construction of housing throughout Spain in those municipalities or regions with rental prices strained by the low supply and high demand for rental housing. "This is the case of large and medium-sized cities or tourist municipalities, where rental prices are usually very high, which families and workers with fewer resources cannot afford, causing them to move out of their neighborhoods or away from their jobs," it is noted.
Rentals "rated and controlled" by the administration
According to the Canarian Government, Plan 20,000 foresees having sufficient public land to transfer the right to the surface so that interested private companies can build the planned homes with their own resources in exchange for collecting the rents for a certain time. However, as they are considered protected homes, these rents will be "rated and controlled at all times" by the Administration, "which guarantees that the rents are offered at affordable prices for families with lower incomes."
"For the Canary Islands, it is essential to be part of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda's Plan 20,000, hence the enormous effort we have made by making land available for the construction of 997 homes and promoting the social rental market in the Canary Islands," Franquis explained. "It is a key market to guarantee the right of access to housing for families with lower incomes, young people and people in vulnerable situations. In addition, the Canary Islands needs to have a sufficient supply of affordable housing under rental schemes," he added.
According to the criteria established to be part of Plan 20,000, this thousand new homes will be built mainly in the largest cities that are also island capitals, and in the tourist municipalities of the islands, urban centers that their city councils have identified as strained in terms of rental prices. In this way, tourist locations such as Corralejo (La Oliva), Playa Blanca (Yaiza), Puerto Rico (Mogán), San Miguel de Abona, Guía de Isora or Candelaria are included in Plan 20,000.
