Talking about social welfare is talking about people. About our elders, about people with disabilities, about those going through situations of vulnerability, and about the families and professionals who care every day. That is why, from the Area of Social Welfare and Inclusion, we have set a clear objective in this legislature: to make Lanzarote and La Graciosa true Islands of Care.
We are not talking about a slogan, but about a roadmap that is already being translated into actions. In this legislature, we have mobilized 32 million euros in social infrastructure, one of the greatest investment efforts in recent decades, combining our own funds, European financing, and collaboration with other administrations.
One of the main milestones is the Elderly Residence and Day Care Center of Tahíche, whose works began in September 2025 after years of paralysis. With an investment of 16 million euros from our own funds and an execution period of 24 months, it will be the sixth island-level residence and will allow for the creation of 125 new places: 75 residential for high dependency and 50 for day care. This will mean increasing the current census by 25% and exceeding one thousand socio-health places offered by the Cabildo.
But we don't just want more places; we want better care. That is why Tahíche incorporates the Person-Centered Care model, with co-living units of a maximum of 15 residents, 65% single rooms, landscaped courtyards, terraces, a therapeutic pool, and spaces for physiotherapy, psychology, and social work. These are accessible and sustainable facilities, designed so that the elderly can maintain their autonomy and dignity and feel at home.
Another strategic project is the Cáritas Comprehensive Care Center in Altavista, whose works were activated in December 2025 after more than fifteen years of absolute neglect. The Cabildo has allocated 10 million euros to recover a space of approximately 7,000 square meters and turn it into a comprehensive resource that will include a residence for the elderly, a day care center, emergency housing, a soup kitchen, and vocational training.
It is also an urban regeneration project for Altavista and a demonstration that social policies must offer more than just assistance: accompaniment and opportunities to rebuild life projects.
But transforming the care system does not consist solely of building new facilities. It also means ensuring that services reach people, that they have continuity, and that those who have been caring for decades from social entities can do so with stability. In this regard, the definitive award of the Social Concerts for an amount of 40.5 million euros for the next seven years constitutes another of the great milestones of this legislature.
This is a fundamental change in the way of understanding and organizing care on the island. These concerts guarantee attention through Third Sector entities that for decades have demonstrated their commitment and knowledge of the social reality of Lanzarote and La Graciosa. And they do so by also expanding the system's response capacity: the concerts include the management of 228 public socio-health places, 78 more than currently exist, in areas such as the promotion of personal autonomy, psychosocial rehabilitation, and care for vulnerable people, with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems.
For us, this agreement has enormous value because it combines two essential issues: more public places and more stability for the provision of services. It is also a recognition of the essential role played by the Third Sector and the need to work together to build a more solid, specialized, and accessible care system.
The expansion of the socio-health network is also a priority. From the Cabildo, we have acquired four new properties, with an investment close to five million euros from Next Generation EU funds through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which will allow the creation of 100 new places. This includes a complete building with nine homes in Arrecife, intended for residential use; a property in Tinajo for a day center; and two more properties in Arrecife for day centers.
Alongside these large infrastructures and the growth of the network of places, we have wanted to strengthen the Third Sector, essential for building a more inclusive society. The new Insular Space for Inclusion and Social Welfare, in the old DAOS school in Puerto del Carmen, has a plot of more than 7,700 square meters and almost 1,900 built meters, 15 classrooms —six approved for professional certificates—, an industrial kitchen and a dining room for 45 people, a multipurpose room for 60 attendees, individualized attention spaces, and a residential area for 30 people.
This facility is integrated into the Accessibility and Inclusion Strategy of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, approved in November 2024, and will be the future headquarters of the Social Action Council of the Third Sector. We thus want to improve coordination and ensure that equal opportunities become a daily reality.
All of this is part of the same paradigm shift: moving from inertia to planning and from care based on available resources to a person-centered model. It is about building a system that not only responds when a need arises, but is capable of anticipating, growing, and adapting to new social realities.
Our roadmap for Lanzarote and La Graciosa involves continuing to expand and diversify the socio-health network, bringing resources closer to the territory, promoting Person-Centered Care, improving accessibility, supporting family caregivers, and strengthening collaboration with the Third Sector.
Because an Island of Care is not built solely with buildings. It is built with services, professionals, coordination, public places, and committed social entities. And, above all, with a different way of understanding social policies.
Each new place means a response for a family. Each resource means more autonomy for a person. Each recovered space represents an opportunity. Each social agreement provides stability and continuity to care. And each investment in social welfare is an investment in social cohesion and in the future.
Lanzarote and La Graciosa have already begun to travel that path. Our commitment is to continue advancing until we consolidate islands where the elderly can age with dignity, people with disabilities can develop their life projects, those who need support can find it nearby, and no one going through a situation of vulnerability is left behind.
Because caring is not just meeting a need: it is building the society we want to be.
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