Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-bc) in Arrecife wants to end the year 2024 "by once again demanding a true housing access policy in the capital, as they have been demanding since the beginning of the year with numerous proposals and requests."
This is expressed by its local spokesperson, Sheila Guillén, who maintains that “Arrecife has become an inaccessible town with very high home purchase prices for the local per capita income and with exorbitant rents that have been increasing in recent years.” Added to this, the Canarian argues, is a “non-existent housing policy by the City Council and Cabildo and by the parties that have mostly governed these administrations during the last 10 years, CC and PP, which have raised rental prices by up to 80 percent.”
For NC-bc, “the PP and CC government group does not have a housing policy, but rather limits itself to granting licenses for free housing without ensuring whether these go to the affordable rental market, to increase free market housing or to vacation rentals.” “A real absurdity,” the Canarians maintain, “since Arrecife and Lanzarote do not have problems with the supply of free housing, but precisely with housing at affordable prices both for purchase and rent.”
A fact that corroborates this analysis “is that Arrecife is one of the municipalities in the Canary Islands with the highest percentage of homes in the hands of large owners, practically 10% of the total number of homes existing in the town”, a figure, the Canarians maintain, “that raises market prices and generates a real real estate bubble.”
“What CC, responsible for the housing area, is doing is further inflating the real estate bubble by offering a free buffet of private housing without guaranteeing its affordability,” comments Guillén, “who sees that this policy is a policy of minimal effort and without rigorous support, when there are alternatives such as tax incentives for the construction of affordable housing, the declaration of a tense area to temporarily curb rental prices, or the direct acquisition of homes by the City Council.”
“We see that public spending is not well oriented. Buildings or houses are bought to give them uses that are not now a priority for the residents of Arrecife. We need to put all our efforts into affordable housing and poverty rates, elements that are linked,” says Sheila Guillén.
