The actions carried out last year by the Department of Social Welfare, Youth and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands through the Canary Islands Housing Plan reached a total of 1,091 families on the island of Lanzarote.
The Canary Islands Housing Officer, Inés Rojas, stated that "in the midst of a period of crisis, we have achieved a magnificent execution of the Plan which, in its first year alone, already exceeds our expectations".
Rojas explained that through the different actions contemplated in the plan in new construction, land, rehabilitation aid, rent and mortgage loans, a total of 26,683,850.98 euros have been mobilized.
Regarding the three main lines of the Plan, the Government of the Canary Islands granted a total of 500 rental aid in Lanzarote last year, facilitated aid for the rehabilitation of 188 homes and facilitated access to housing for 326 young people.
35,000 families in the Canary Islands
Also, with respect to the Canary Islands, the actions carried out last year by the Department of Social Welfare, Youth and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands on the islands through the Canary Islands Housing Plan, reached a total of 34,647 families, which meant an execution of 108.48 percent.
During the past year, 11,750 families were assisted in the Canary Islands in terms of rehabilitation and replacement of homes, 9,464 families were provided with access to housing under a rental regime, and 6,596 young people received some of the aid contemplated in the young housing program.
"With these results, Rojas assured, we can be proud in the Canary Islands because the first year of the new Housing Plan has achieved, in the midst of a period of crisis, a magnificent execution that reaches 108.48 percent, which has allowed us to reach 34,647 Canarian families through the different actions in terms of rent, rehabilitation, new construction, and promotion of young housing".
The Canary Islands Housing Plan 2009-2012 proposes to improve access to housing for 135,000 Canarian families, 50 percent more than in the previous plan in which the objective was to reach 89,000 families.
The development of all the actions planned in the new Housing Plan will involve the mobilization of around 2,800 million euros in the archipelago, 2,008 million from private investment, mainly mortgage loans, and 838 from Public Administrations.
The forecast of the new Plan is to carry out 46,405 actions in the area of rehabilitation and replacement in these four years, 95 percent more than in the previous Plan, in order to conserve and improve buildings and homes; 32,605 actions in the area of rent, 17 percent more than in the previous plan; and 29,305 actions in the area of young housing, 86 percent more.
Helping families with fewer resources
Within the total of the actions contemplated in the Housing Plan, more than 72 percent are fully financed by the Government of the Canary Islands. In addition, more than 70 percent of the economic resources are destined to help families with fewer resources.
In this way, the new Plan considers preferred groups to families with fewer resources, young people, people over 65 years of age, women victims of gender violence, large families or with dependents in their care, single-parent families, people with disabilities and legally separated or divorced people. The objective will be that the effort of families to access protected housing does not exceed one third of their income.
Likewise, it also contemplates, given the economic situation, transitory and exceptional measures that, together with the lines of the Housing Plan itself, boost the Canarian economy, promote access to families with lower incomes and support the sustainability of the territory, such as the offer made to promoters to include housing that cannot be sold in the program of 2,000 homes to rent at 50 euros to families with incomes below 10,000 euros.