Lanzarote En Pie (LEP) has reported that the Arrecife City Council spent barely 3.83% of the Housing budget in 2025. According to budget settlement data, the area had 1.1 million euros, but only used 43,932 euros, leaving most of the funds allocated for rental aid and housing rehabilitation unused.
For Leticia Padilla, spokesperson for LEP, "we are not facing a simple administrative problem, but rather a possible management negligence. The City Council designed a system that prevented access to aid and maintained it for a whole year while leaving many families out."
Only 1,500 euros in rental aid throughout 2025
According to the party, of the 220,000 euros foreseen for rental aid, the City Council barely allocated 1,500 in all of 2025. The situation was not very different in housing rehabilitation where, of the more than 877,000 euros available, only just over 42,000 were spent.
"That in an entire year only 1,500 euros in rental aid have been granted is a sample of the municipal government's inability to respond to the social reality of Arrecife," affirmed Padilla. For the spokesperson, "the problem was not the lack of resources but the absence of a system capable of transforming them into real aid." "There was no lack of money, there was a lack of will to resolve," she sentenced.
A system that "didn't work"
The conditions required to access the aid turned out, according to LEP, "as problematic as the low budget execution". The bases approved in 2025 limited the monthly rent to 600 euros and "imposed very strict income caps, thresholds that, far from guaranteeing that the aid reached those who needed it most, left out many families with real difficulties".
Added to this was a slow procedure, which could prolong the response for months, and some documentary requirements "designed for ordinary management, not for addressing a housing emergency". "A housing emergency cannot be addressed with a model designed to delay, assess, and block. When a family cannot pay their rent, the administration cannot respond six months later," Padilla pointed out.
Responsibilities and urgent measures
The recent modification of the bases and the review of the economic requirements confirm, for LEP, that the system applied in 2025 "did not conform to the reality of the municipality".
The organization demands the governing group to guarantee that the changes introduced this time translate into real and accessible aid for families, with reasonable resolution periods and public monitoring that certifies that the aid is being given.
"Housing cannot continue to be treated as an advertisement nor as a postponed promise. We are talking about people's right to continue living with dignity in their city. To govern is also to care, and caring begins by guaranteeing that whoever needs help receives it," concluded Padilla.
