The Cabildo of Lanzarote made a total global investment in Social Welfare of ten million euros in 2025 aimed at strengthening the island network of resources for people in vulnerable situations. To this are added the aid and economic benefits of Social Emergency endowed with 900,000 euros.
The president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, has indicated that “the 2025 balance confirms that we are advancing towards a more solid, coordinated, and effective social model. Behind every piece of data there are people and families who have received support in especially difficult times. Our priority has been and will continue to be to protect the dignity and opportunities of the most vulnerable and those who need it most”.
For his part, the counselor of Social Welfare and Inclusion, Marci Acuña, highlighted that “2025 has been a year of consolidation of the Specialized Service of Inclusion and Social Intervention, with a rigorous technical response, clear assessment criteria and emergency mechanisms that have allowed us to act quickly in extreme situations. We have reinforced both direct attention and the prevention of exclusion”.
Consolidation of the Specialized Service
The Specialized Service for Inclusion and Social Intervention, created in November 2023 within the framework of the restructuring of the Area's public services, has continued during 2025 developing interventions of high technical complexity aimed at individuals and groups requiring specific attention.
Throughout the year, the service has assisted 1,430 people in vulnerable situations, carrying out tasks of care, assessment, and social intervention, coordination with Municipal Social Services, third sector entities, health services, the Addiction Care Unit and Penitentiary Institutions, as well as specific actions with homeless people and those at risk of exclusion.
The network of resources active in 2025 has included two low-demand shelters with capacity for forty people, the Flora Acoge Welcome House with seventeen places and permanent attention during the twenty-four hours, two flats for single-parent women in a situation of social exclusion managed by the entity Mararía that serve six family units with their children, and a flat for families at risk of exclusion managed by the entity Trib-Arte.
Said service has attended to and referred a total of 180 homeless people to low-demand shelters; 75 people to the Welcome Home of the Flora Acoge Guadalupe Foundation, while in Mararía's social inclusion flats 8 women and 9 minors have been housed, as well as 3 family units to the flat managed by the social entity Trib-Arte.
Likewise, and in coordination with the Employment Area of the Island Council and the city councils, also 15% of unemployed people have been referred with the aim of promoting their labor inclusion.
In addition, as part of the structural reinforcement of inclusion policies, the Cabildo has allocated ten million euros to promote new strategic resources, among them the Cáritas Multipurpose Social Center, which is currently under construction and will integrate a residence and day center, a low-demand center for homeless people, a shower, laundry, and social dining service, a reception center with advice and training for employment and housing for families with minors.
Economic Benefits of Social Emergency in 2025
Within the framework of the 2025 exercise, the call for Social Emergency Economic Benefits has had as its purpose to guarantee the right to social protection for residents and transients in Lanzarote in a situation of socioeconomic vulnerability, covering basic needs, accommodation, transport, health, education and technical support.
The total amount granted in the fiscal year amounted to 471,729.20 euros, of which 298,817.17 euros corresponded to social aid, 56,962.03 euros to technical aid and 115,950 euros to vouchers. On the other hand, the Cabildo also allocated to the municipalities a sum of 500,000 euros for direct social emergency aid.
The aid has been structured in two modalities. The first, through vouchers or prepaid cards for the acquisition of essential products such as food, hygiene, cleaning, and medicines. The second, through economic benefits aimed at covering basic needs, housing expenses, transport, health treatments, training and labor insertion, school supplies, extraordinary situations, and technical support such as psychological treatments, physiotherapy, speech therapy, prosthetics, or housing adaptation.
Distribution by municipalities
During 2025 a total of 395 emergency social financial aid grants were awarded on the island for the most vulnerable families. Arrecife registered 139 grants, Haría 24, San Bartolomé 68, SIAM 1, Teguise 25, Tías 47, Tinajo 13 and Yaiza 78.
The 2025 balance sheet reflects, ultimately, the consolidation of a comprehensive care model in Lanzarote that combines residential resources, specialized technical intervention and direct economic support, with the aim of strengthening social cohesion and guaranteeing an effective response to situations of vulnerability in Lanzarote.
In the words of the Councilor for Social Welfare and Inclusion, Marci Acuña, “the fundamental purpose focuses on intervening with the most vulnerable people, also counting on the support of the third sector, increasing social inclusion resources to guarantee the improvement of the quality of life of the people residing in Lanzarote and La Graciosa”.