The Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sebastián Franquis, has held a bilateral meeting, by videoconference, with the Secretary General of Urban Agenda and Housing of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, David Lucas, to address, among other issues, the launch of the 'Affordable Rental Plan', formerly called 'Plan 20,000', which foresees the construction of 997 social homes, 322 in Lanzarote.
In this telematic meeting, rehabilitation and urban regeneration actions have also been studied, and the Councilor's request to take into account the particularities of the Canary Islands in the basic procedures for the energy efficiency certification of homes, in the rehabilitation and urban regeneration actions financed by the European Recovery Fund
Sebastián Franquis has announced that the signing of the future collaboration protocol between the Ministry and the Government of the Canary Islands to promote the promotion of homes for affordable or social rent would make possible the construction of 997 homes on land ceded by the Canarian administrations. These homes, the councilor pointed out, are promoted in public-private collaboration, ceding the exploitation of the rent to private companies through the right of surface, setting "a very positive precedent when looking for solutions that allow reactivating the economy and encouraging productive entrepreneurship and job creation." To the 322 social homes that are planned to be built in Lanzarote, 369 would be added in Gran Canaria, 214 in Tenerife, and 92 in Fuerteventura.
The Ministry has committed to send the Ministry more detailed documentation on the proposed land, based on which the actions would be planned. Once this information has been jointly analyzed, the next step would be the signing of a protocol that would aim to establish the general bases of mutual collaboration and cooperation to promote the promotion of homes under affordable or social rental regime on land owned by the municipality or autonomous region, qualified for residential use of housing.
In order to continue advancing, a technical commission has been created between the Ministry and the Ministry to determine the land that has "greater maturity" and to be able to plan the actions, so that the procedures for the transfer of land by the Government of the Canary Islands and the Canarian town councils that have committed to participate in the Plan for Affordable or Social Rent promoted by the Government of Spain can be finalized.
The councilor has recalled that the Canary Islands is the Spanish region that registers the highest number of households under rental regime. "That is why it is essential for us to be part of this Affordable Rental Plan and for that purpose we have made an enormous effort to make available to the Ministry 92,897 square meters of public land in those municipalities where rents are more strained," said Sebastián Franquis.
Of this land transfer, 85% is transferred by the town councils and the rest by the Autonomous Community, in municipalities where there is an "enormous difficulty" for access to housing under rental regime "due to the scarcity of supply and the increase in prices".
In the case of Lanzarote, Arrecife and Yaiza were the municipalities that joined this plan, whose objective is to combat the housing emergency and alleviate the imbalances in the rental market in urban and tourist areas of the Canary Islands. In the case of Yaiza, its mayor, Óscar Noda, announced last week that in the next plenary session the transfer of a plot in Montaña Roja (Playa Blanca) will be specified, where 226 social homes are planned to be built.
