Hoteliers, builders and workers warn of a possible “collapse” of the tourism sector if “urgent” solutions to the housing problem in the south of Tenerife are not sought. They warn that the “exorbitant” prices of the rents prevent the access of the employees of the sector to a flat or apartment in the outskirts of the tourist areas. The concern is maximum and a “dramatic” panorama is glimpsed if measures are not adopted immediately.
The lack of promotion of public housing in recent years, together with the purchases by the vulture funds in the crisis that broke out in 2008 and which has withdrawn part of the offer from the market, and the conversion of part of the residential homes to vacation homes are the main causes that explain the current situation.
“This reality is unsustainable and the lack of personnel and professionals in companies, especially in the tourism sector, can lead to collapse,” Manuel Fitas, general secretary of the Base Unionists, the majority organization in the hotel industry in Venezuela, told this newspaper. the province of Tenerife, which recalled that costs have also skyrocketed in the midlands and in the neighborhoods furthest from hotels and apartments, where, he assured, prices do not fall below 800 euros, with increases of up to 30% in the municipalities of higher population.
This situation is causing unemployed people on the Peninsula to rule out moving to Tenerife -and the Canary Islands in general- given the impossibility of affording rent. “Tourist recovery is a fact, hotels are filled with tourists, but many ERTE workers due to COVID have not returned due to the impossibility of accessing housing at a price they can afford with their salaries,” Fitas stressed.
Grassroots unionists and the Ashotel hotel association have already requested a meeting with the Canarian Federation of Municipalities through a letter in which they warn that the “few” houses available in the towns adjoining the tourist areas exceed the rental income of the 60% of the average salary in the sector, which makes the development of professional and life projects unfeasible among those who wish to reside in these areas. Inflation, which does not stop growing, with a shopping basket and fuel through the roof, completes an impossible scenario for any job seeker in the area.
For the president of the Tenerife builders, Óscar Izquierdo, what is happening in the South is “dramatic and scandalous”. “Tourism can be strangled, the situation is limit”, says the leader of Fepeco, “after 12 years without a social housing has been built in the South.” Izquierdo believes that “a lot of time has been lost, while tourism grew exponentially” and pointed to the municipality of Arona as the one with the greatest urgency when it comes to creating new residential spaces.
The construction employers, which reiterates that the objective is for “workers to live close to their work”, points to public-private collaboration as a solution to build homes with affordable rental prices “ranging between 250 and 350 euros” . Izquierdo indicated that, in this direction, he has recently held several meetings with different investors in Madrid.
Possible solution
Base unionists pointed out the reclassification of public land to build social rental housing with a fixed price of 300 euros for one-bedroom flats and 500 for two-bedroom apartments. That formula, which contemplates the maximum annual increase in the CPI, would go through a 30-year exploitation contract for the construction company. “In 10 they would recover the investment and from that moment they would begin to obtain benefits, and after 30 years the municipality would recover the land with the houses and decide whether to renew the exploitation contract in public tender or directly undertake its exploitation from a municipal housing company created for this purpose by the City Council”, explained Manuel Fitas.
Victoria López, president of the Fedola Group, maintains that the solution lies in limiting the number of places in vacation homes. “In the same way that a limit is approved by municipality for licenses for taxis or to open pharmacies, a maximum must be established for this modality and thus guarantee the economic sustainability of our destination,” the hotel businesswoman told this newspaper.
In addition, the removal of workers from hotel establishments is contributing, he emphasized, to the “collapse” of the highway. Precisely, the Fedola Group and Ashotel have been studying a sustainable mobility project for months to adapt, as far as possible, transport to the schedules of workers in the sector.
“The residents have to live, the cheapest municipalities are collapsing and the security forces and bodies warn about the loopholes that vacation homes present for the police control of their guests,” Victoria López stressed.
After pointing out that employment in the tourism sector is created by hotels and apartments, the president of the Fedola Group warned that “there are real estate agencies that do business by buying many properties at very cheap prices, which they reform with four dollars to put them on the vacation homes. It makes us very sad, because that is not the future of tourism in the Canary Islands, nor does it respond to the training of the boys and girls who leave university”, she concluded.
