Jennifer Miranda, the spokeswoman for the PSOE in Granadilla de Abona, affirms that the municipal government “aggravates the problem of the lack of public housing in the municipality.” She affirms this based on “her decision to keep seven houses empty” that are owned by the City Council.
According to Jennifer Miranda, of the 76 public houses owned by Servicios Municipales de Granadilla de Abona (Sermugran), “seven have been empty for months and 57 of them have seen their rental costs increase by up to 50%, in some cases cases”. From the perspective of the Socialist candidate for Mayor, this situation “contributes to positioning Granadilla de Abona as the municipality in Spain where the rental price has risen the most.”
Miranda assures that there are many factors that influence this phenomenon, and cites irregular holiday homes, the purchase of buildings by foreign investment funds and, fundamentally, the lack of public housing in the municipality of Granada.
The municipal spokesperson for the PSOE points out that “in order to Canarian Coalition Solving the housing problem has never been a priority in his seven years of government. To support this statement, the councilor gives as an example “Their refusal to approve rental aid or not appear at the calls of the Island Council to receive funds for the rehabilitation of homes, which has made us lose up to 120,000 euros in recent years.”
The alternative to this serious situation is “to face the real problems of the citizens providing solutions, such as the increase in the public housing stock, the implementation of rental aid packages and the fight against irregular holiday homes”, concludes Jennifer Miranda.
Last June, the municipal government announced that the City Council would make available to the Instituto Canario de la Vivienda the Government of the Canary Islands two municipally owned plots for the construction of public housing for the most vulnerable families in the municipality. This land is located, on the one hand, in the Cuevas de Cho Portada Partial Plan, in San Isidro, with an extension of 2,772 meters, and on the other hand, in the area of the Poncela action unit in San Isidro, and has with 536 square meters.
Since January 14, 2020, the Consistory sent a list of available plots to show its predisposition and the promotion of this type of publicly promoted real estate within the social pact for decent housing in Canary Islands. In June 2020, the start of the assignment procedures was approved in full, notifying the Government of the Canary Islands so that this administration could dispose of this municipal public land for the creation of publicly-promoted housing as soon as possible. These agreements, along with the rest of the urban information, were sent to the Canary Islands Housing Institute between 2020 and 2021.
On May 5 of last year, the City Council was informed that both plots were declared suitable for the promotion of public housing, sending at the same time the agreement document that was approved by the plenary in June 2020.