The deputy in the Parliament of the Canary Islands for Lanzarote and La Graciosa and island president of Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-bc), Yoné Caraballo, has questioned the policies that are being carried out by the governments led by Coalición Canaria (CC) and Partido Popular (PP) both at the local and island level as well as at the autonomous level.
For Caraballo, "the measures that the conservatives have deployed are aggravating the housing crisis both in purchase and rental regimes." Thus, he remarks that after a year of the approval by the Canarian government of the Decree Law of Urgent Measures in Housing matters, “the purchase price has risen by 20% in Lanzarote, making it impossible to acquire a first home”.
Similarly, he points out that with rental prices "exactly the same thing is happening, they are out of control." A year ago, Caraballo continues, “a tenant spent on average 35% of their salary on rent; today it is around 59%”.
“Let CC and PP tell the working-class people of Lanzarote what real effects their housing measures are having on their pockets, on their quality of life. Let them tell young people how with their measures they can access a home to live with dignity”, asks the deputy, who highlights that the only ones who have benefited from their measures are “real estate holders as evidenced by the fact that today buying a home costs 50 percent more than in the real estate boom of 2007; in addition to having put on a platter, together with the PSOE, the use of the RIC for free housing, another measure to increase speculation”.
According to Caraballo, “both CC and PP are inflating a real estate bubble by offering facilities to construction companies and developers without ensuring that the homes will be for affordable rent and purchase, a free bar that will be paid by the usual people, the majority of Canarian society”.
Alternative measures
Yoné Caraballo demands that the governments of CC and PP "study other alternative measures that are already working in territories such as Catalonia and the Basque Country, such as capping free market prices by using the declaration of Tensioned Residential Market Zones that would temporarily curb the price control. While prices are capped, other medium and long-term measures are deployed such as the construction of affordable housing and the mobilization of empty homes with guarantees to the owners".
