The mayoress of Arrecife, Astrid Pérez, has called for an ordinary plenary session this Friday, April 30, where a new line of social aid will be approved in a central way, aimed at families residing in the municipality to face the economic situation that is experienced on the island due to the tourist stoppage and the crisis due to covid.
This social aid plan is endowed with 4 million euros, "the largest amount that the Arrecife City Council has ever had in its history," they point out from the Consistory. The line of aid will be implemented with the modification of a series of existing ordinances to make it possible for these new social aids to be of a greater amount and for a greater amount.
Together with the aid that will be granted from the Social Services for families in vulnerable situations, the Government group led by Astrid Pérez will implement a new financial aid from the Department of Housing to allow families residing in the municipality of Arrecife to have an annual aid from municipal resources to cover the high costs of housing rentals in Lanzarote.
Astrid Pérez has remarked that the municipal budgets for 2021, with nearly 80 million euros, "are those with the highest social investment, something unprecedented until now with the 4 million euros in social matters, and also allocate a large investment to public works, which has as a priority to generate employment and boost the economy with the injection of public money in works to modernize the city." The 2021 budgets have been in force since last Friday.
With this new aid, the Department of Housing of Arrecife, under the direction of the popular councilor Eduardo Placeres Reyes, will grant financial aid of up to 1,500 euros per year to families who do not have sufficient financial resources. The City Council's aid will increase to 2,700 euros if elderly people over 65 years of age, or people with disabilities with a certified degree higher than 65%, live in the family unit. With the modification of the ordinances, which will be approved in the plenary session this Friday, the Department of Housing of the Arrecife City Council will have a regulatory channel to approve financial aid for housing rentals with rents of up to 500 euros, or 900 euros, if they are from families with people with disabilities or over 65 years of age, of the monthly cost of renting the property where they have been residing for more than a year.
Arrecife adapts the social and housing ordinances to the social reality of 2021
Together with the modification of the ordinances regarding housing aid, which are from 2015, the City Council will also approve the modification of the ordinances regarding social aid, which are from 2008, to allow more financial aid and for more time to families residing in Arrecife.
The Councilor for Housing, who is also the head of Urban Planning, Eduardo Placeres, has remarked that with the agreement of the plenary session next Friday the normative wording of these ordinances regarding housing will be adapted to the new reality of families, middle class, who live in the capital of Lanzarote. Until now, housing aid required a seniority of the neighbor of 3 years, uninterrupted. Now, they request that they be registered in Arrecife one year before applying for housing, minimum. The aid covers 50 percent of rental income up to 500 euros per month, when before it was only for income up to 400 euros.
The amount rises to 900 euros, if they are families with people with disabilities or over 65 years of age, residing in Arrecife with a minimum seniority of one year. Another of the advantages that the families of Arrecife will have to access these aids will allow them, if their applications are approved, to collect the aid in a single annual payment.
The indicator that will be taken into account for the granting of these aids from the Arrecife City Council for housing rentals is focused taking into consideration the income of the applicant and their cohabitants. The income of that family unit must be equal to or less than three times the public indicator of Multiple Effects Income (IPREM). This threshold will be 4 times for families with people over 65 years of age, or people with disabilities greater than 65%. For large families of special category it will be 5 times IPREM.
The aid may be requested after the process of public display of the new ordinance and the final publication in the BOP.
