In Lanzarote, we have been hearing the same old song for years: that social housing is coming, that now it is, that this time it is serious. That if the first stone, that if the European funds, that if the Housing Plan... Well, reality slaps us in the face again with an open hand: the 201 protected homes in Maneje will not be ready until, at least, 2026. And I say "at least" because here the deadlines stretch more than lycra pants at carnival.
And in the meantime, what? Well, the same old thing: families living in boarding house rooms, single mothers sharing a roof with strangers, and young people who have to choose between paying rent or eating. But hey, don't panic, because the works are progressing "at a good pace". At a good pace for whom? For the one who signs from the air-conditioned office or for the one who has been waiting three years for a decent house while seeing how tourist rentals multiply and real estate portals play Monopoly?
And now hold on, here comes the best part: this project is not a merit of the current government, no matter how much they now take the photo as if they had given birth to the plans themselves. These homes were promoted in the previous legislature, under the PACTO DE LAS FLORES (NUEVA CANARIAS, PARTIDO SOCIALISTA and UNIDAS PODEMOS). But of course, in politics it doesn't matter who did it, the important thing is to appear in the photo with a face of "look how well we manage". Although the only thing they manage lately are festivals, pilgrimages and a party agenda more active than the school calendar.
Because yes, what is going at a good pace —and with an orchestra included— are the parties. There is always time, money and desire for that. Housing? We'll see. But if you have to set up a stage or take out a float, they are the first ones there. And while you wait for a roof, they dance under the lights.
In short: public housing in Lanzarote is like manna: promised, desired, and eternally pending. Only here it does not come down from the sky: it comes down in slow motion and with an urban planning file.
And then they wonder why people are fed up. Well, look, because we are up to the roof —which we don't have— of unfulfilled promises, of inaugurations without keys, and of politicians who manage the drama of housing as if it were a sudoku.
They shout "social housing", but what they deliver is social waiting. And that, gentlemen, is not inhabited.