Titerroy resident Candelaria Díaz has passed away without being able to return to her home. She was one of the residents who were evicted from their homes, "forced to survive" on rent without assistance. According to the Titerroy Neighborhood Association, this woman lost her son in the collapse of house number 40 on Timbayba Street in 2009. "It brings back to the table the cruelest reality: the residents of Titerroy die without justice, without reparation, and without being able to return to their homes," they stated in a press release.
Sixteen years have passed since July 28, 2009. "The Arrecife City Council and the Government of the Canary Islands have demonstrated historical irresponsibility, looking the other way and leaving dozens of families condemned to abandonment," the residents of the Arrecife neighborhood have reproached.
"Unfulfilled promises and wasted resources: There were agreements in 2011 and 2015, there were state funds transferred, there were solemn promises of housing replacement. Everything remained in photos and headlines. Nothing was executed," they continued.
Candelaria Díaz has died like other residents, waiting to return to her home. "Her hope never materialized. Like her, several have already passed away without seeing the basic right to decent housing fulfilled, a right that the institutions have not wanted to guarantee," they recalled.
For more than a decade, the elderly in this neighborhood have endured forced evictions, endless procedures, deceptions, and institutional treatment that borders on the most absolute contempt.
Rehabilitated homes sold to other people
Meanwhile, they have denounced that some of the affected homes have been rehabilitated and sold to third parties, with licenses granted by the City Council itself. "Where was the justice for the original residents then? Who oversees these decisions?" the Titerroy Neighborhood Association has questioned.
"Blocked funds, unmet deadlines": On March 14, 2023, the Arrecife City Council accepted a subsidy of 349,877.56 euros to rehabilitate homes. The law sets an execution period of two years, extendable to four. "As of today, there is no award, no works, no published project. If no extension has been requested, the City Council is already violating the law and putting a vital public investment at risk," they reported.
Residents denounce "a complicit silence"
The only firm voice was that of the then Deputy of the Common, Jerónimo Saavedra, who in 2018 denounced the "obstructive and hindering" attitude of the mayor's office. Since then, neither the Deputy of the Common has done anything more, nor has the Government of the Canary Islands moved a finger.
"The current Minister of Housing, Pablo Rodríguez, has been in Lanzarote, but has never come to listen to the families. He prefers to hide behind the funds transferred to the City Council, as if sending money already solved everything," they maintained from the Titerroy Neighborhood Association.
From the Titerroy Neighborhood Association, they have denounced that this neighborhood "has been the victim of premeditated and shameful abandonment." For this reason, they have demanded that "they stop playing with the illusions and lives of our elders," that the replacement of homes is not used as "an electoral slogan" and that it becomes an immediate reality.
"Justice may be slow, but it will come. And the residents of Titerroy will not stop raising their voices until this injustice is repaired," added the Titerroy Neighborhood Association. At the same time, they have conveyed to the family of Candelaria Díaz their deepest condolences and all their solidarity in these moments of pain.
"Candelaria was not only an exemplary neighbor, but also a symbol of the resistance and hope of this neighborhood. Her departure deeply hurts us because she leaves without having seen the right that corresponded to her fulfilled: to return to her home," she said. Meanwhile, they have asked to "keep her memory and her struggle alive, and not to rest until justice is done for all the families of Titerroy".