SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, June 15. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Santa Cruz de Tenerife has hosted today, Wednesday, a new working day for the mayors of the four largest municipalities in the Canary Islands, the so-called G4, which has concluded with the signing of a document of proposals related to employment and housing, among others affairs.
José Manuel Bermúdez (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), Augusto Hidalgo (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), Luis Yeray Gutiérrez (La Laguna) and Carmen Hernández (Telde) discussed and proposed, among other things, requesting the drafting of the catalog of social resources of the Canary Islands, which would make it possible to mitigate the “call” effect in this area of the two great metropolitan areas of the Archipelago; allow the municipalities to process and promote the construction of public housing, or the need to establish a multi-annual character for the employment plans managed by the municipalities of the Islands.
The agreed proposals, which will be presented at a future meeting with the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, also requested today, have to do with issues related to employment or housing, among others.
For example, the need has been raised for the Government of the Canary Islands to analyse, study and publish the catalog of social resources of the municipalities of the Islands to develop coordinated social care policies, regardless of the municipality of residence of the people who need it. , a catalog that is included in the Social Services Law, approved in 2019.
Another issue discussed during the meeting is the need to launch initiatives of an insular nature linked to the care of homeless people, which provide them with greater coherence and mitigate the attraction factor exerted by the two capital areas due to the available resources. from the Canary Islands
In addition, the possibility has been raised that the four municipalities can directly manage the promotion of public housing in their territories and give multi-year employment plans, preventing their development from depending on their annual processing.
Regarding the FDCAN, it is proposed to create a working table with the Ministry of Finance to find solutions to the difficulties of managing the FDCAN funds, redirecting its objectives and destinations to generate synergies with the reconstruction efforts that the Next Generation promotes.
Finally, they have shared one of the common problems, such as the lack of personnel to respond effectively to the needs of citizens. For this reason, it has been proposed to the Government of Spain to exempt the municipalities from the replacement rate in order to cover the needs in terms of personnel.
The stated objective is that these proposals can be transferred personally by the four aldermen to the President of the Government of the Canary Islands in a meeting that will be requested in the coming days, in addition to the creation of the corresponding work groups for the start-up of these initiatives and their subsequent follow-up.
“SHARE EXPERIENCES”
The mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, has described the meeting as very satisfactory and has indicated that it has served to “share experiences, establish common diagnoses and joint proposals for solutions”.
“These four municipalities share responsibilities and conditions that make it necessary for us to request specific policies related to social care, housing, municipal financing, personnel and employment,” he added.
Among others, he highlighted the need for the Government of the Canary Islands to develop a catalog of benefits and services in social matters as soon as possible, “fundamental so that the municipalities can carry out our work as the first place to which neighbors who need help go”.
For his part, the mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Augusto Hidalgo, has indicated that this meeting “has the fundamental objective of giving the perspective of the most important urban centers of the Canary Islands, which have some peculiarities that distinguish us from the rest of municipalities, and propose solutions as an added element of municipal discussion”.
Hidalgo added that “our singularities are sufficient to make a series of contributions in terms of housing, employment, financing, with a different perspective, because we live reality in a different way too, since almost half of the population of the Archipelago is found in these four municipalities”.
“At the time of the most important impact of the pandemic – Hidalgo recalled -, when the entire country was closed, most local administrations did not have resources or infrastructure to meet social needs and the four main municipalities had the capacity to attend to people everywhere, without looking at their origin, for legal and moral responsibility”.
He pointed out that “the impact on these metropolitan areas is evident by having institutions, hosting large events and serving people from all over with our resources, which requires a different vision, not exclusive, nor contrary to the rest of the municipalities, but different , in which the elements are readjusted from the point of view of financing and economic contribution”.
The mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, described as “strategic” the possibility that the four municipalities “may manage the construction of public housing under the Canary Plan through their public companies, as a formula to promote said promotion.”
Along the same lines, the mayor of Telde, Carmen Hernández, highlighted “the need to demand from the Government of the Canary Islands that, within the framework of the Canarian Housing Plan, the funds be transferred to the town councils for the promotion of public housing for through the mechanisms that each municipality determines.
