Photos: Sergio Betancort
The president of Nueva Canarias, Román Rodríguez, stated this Saturday on the island of Lanzarote that "the Canary Islands urgently need the implementation of active housing policies that facilitate the fulfillment of this constitutional right, which is seriously violated today in the Archipelago as a whole." "Despite having exclusive powers in the matter, the Canary Community lacks a Plan in this area and has spent more than a decade without promoting the construction of public housing," he added. Words expressed during the #Canariasconfuturo meeting in Lanzarote, organized by Nueva Canarias.
Carmen Hernández, vice president of NC and mayor of Telde, NC deputy Gladys Acuña, the president of the island's Chamber of Commerce, José Torres, and Angy Guisado, a member of the Platform for Dignified Housing, also participated in the event, moderated by Armando Santana, island coordinator of Nueva Canarias in Lanzarote, who expressed "the drama that many families, without any possibility of accessing housing, suffer on the island, and that institutions are not able to offer alternatives."
In the debate, which is part of the #Canariasconfuturo meetings that NC has been developing throughout the Archipelago on different issues, it was revealed the "progressive aggravation of the housing problem in the Canary Islands in the recent period".
"Government inaction"
Throughout the debate, several causes of the aggravation of housing in the Archipelago were pointed out. "Firstly, due to the absence of public policies in the matter, as a result of the inaction of the Government of the Canary Islands. Despite the fact that there is land available in the Islands, the Executive has been paralyzed in a matter of special sensitivity that affects the quality of life of tens of thousands of people in our land," they pointed out.
They also pointed out that "this is compounded by the effect that vacation rentals are having on the tourist islands, which have experienced exponential growth in recent years. And whose expansion restricts the supply of residential rentals and, in addition, makes them substantially more expensive. A matter that also falls to the Government of the Canary Islands without it having been able to regulate its situation".
Finally, they stated that "the Constitution establishes that public authorities will promote the necessary conditions and establish the relevant rules to make this right effective, regulating the use of land in accordance with the general interest to prevent speculation". "In the Canary Islands, this precept is not complied with in any way," they stated.
