The PSOE of Lanzarote has celebrated with great success the debate "The Basque Country: a housing model for the Canary Islands", a meeting that has allowed analyzing key strategies and policies to face the serious housing crisis that Lanzarote and the entire archipelago are going through.
The event featured the outstanding participation of Denis Itxaso, Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government, and Maribel Santana, former Director General of the Canary Islands Housing Institute, who presented the public housing management models applied in their respective communities and debated on their possible implementation in the Canary Islands.
During his speech, Denis Itxaso warned that access to housing is no longer an exclusive problem for people in vulnerable situations and that it now fully affects the middle class, a reality that reflects the dimension of the housing crisis throughout Spain. The Minister explained how in the Basque Country a model has been consolidated that prioritizes renting over selling, ensuring that protected housing continues to fulfill its social function and avoiding speculation.
The Basque model: speculation with public housing is prohibited.
All protected price apartments built in Euskadi are so in perpetuity, preventing them from becoming business instruments. In addition, in the last five years, the Basque Government has helped 11,000 young people to become independent, showing the positive impact of these policies on the lives of citizens. This model has been key in the fight against the housing crisis and serves as inspiration for the housing policies promoted by President Pedro Sánchez at the national level.
Among the key policies that have allowed this progress in Euskadi, Itxaso detailed the promotion of protected rent as a priority, the establishment of a tax on empty housing to encourage its use, the mobilization of public housing through programs such as Bizigune and ASAP, and the sustained increase in investment in housing, reaching 1.2% of GDP, one of the highest percentages in the State. In addition, the Basque model stands out for its public-private collaboration, which guarantees security to owners who cede their homes for protected rent: they receive a reduced but guaranteed income and, at the end of the contract, they recover the home in good condition.
Lanzarote, erased from the map of public housing for 26 years by CC
For her part, Maribel Santana explained the alarming reality of Lanzarote, pointing out that since 1988 not a single home had been projected within the housing plans of the Canary Islands. She explained that, since the second housing plan - and after the approval of a total of seven plans - not a single home had been "painted on the map" for Lanzarote, which means that the island had been completely excluded from housing policies for more than three decades. Santana stressed that a socialist government was necessary to reactivate the construction of public housing and lay the first stone after 26 years of absolute inaction. Thanks to this impulse, the planning of new promotions has been resumed, which will allow offering real alternatives to Lanzarote families.
María Dolores Corujo: "Access to housing is a right, not a commodity"
The general secretary of the PSOE of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, highlighted the importance of this debate in a context where access to housing has become one of the biggest social problems on the island, aggravated by speculation and the lack of effective policies by administrations governed by the right. "We cannot allow housing to continue to be a privilege available to a few. The lack of planning and the inaction of Coalición Canaria and the Partido Popular have led to many families in Lanzarote living in a situation of absolute uncertainty. For years they have looked the other way, while our people are forced to leave because they cannot pay rent or access decent housing," Corujo denounced.
"Speculation cannot mark the future of Lanzarote"
Corujo explained that the Basque model shows that there are alternatives to combat the housing crisis if there is political will. "Access to housing is a right, not a commodity. We cannot continue to allow speculation to mark the future of Lanzarote. We are clear that the solution involves a firm commitment to public housing for rent, to stop the rise in prices and to regulate the market to protect those who need it most," she said. In addition, she stressed the need to apply a public-private model that not only guarantees access to affordable housing, but also provides security to owners, ensuring reduced but guaranteed rents and the return of their homes in good condition.
Corujo insisted that her formation will continue to demand concrete actions so that housing ceases to be a structural problem on the island. "We are not going to settle for empty speeches. We are going to continue working so that the institutions assume their responsibility and guarantee real solutions. It is time to act," she concluded.
The debate, held at the Sociedad Democracia de Arrecife, is part of a series of initiatives promoted by the PSOE of Lanzarote to promote a development model that puts the welfare of citizens and social justice at the center.
