The almost 300 residents who live in the 70 houses of the Virgen del Carmen urbanization, in Guargacho (Arona), will no longer have to wander between broken stairs, walk paths where trees were once planted or suffer the perennial humidity of the neighborhood, as if this were the price to pay for living in social housing.
This has been the case for decades, the time it has taken for one of the first social housing promotions in the history of the municipality to say “this is how far we have come”. If buildings could talk, of course. Without green spaces or places for children to play or for the elderly to walk.
This reality has begun to change with the start of the works on what is the first comprehensive reform and rehabilitation action in the area (known under the acronym ARRU) in the history of Arona, and which was promoted by the municipal government that It was chaired by the former mayor and current PSOE spokesman, José Julián Mena, who took advantage of the start of the works to meet with some residents of the urbanization, near the Costa del Silencio.
To reverse the decadence of decades, an investment of 2.8 million euros will be necessary with a term for the execution of the works of 14 months. Of the total planned investment, the Arona City Council contributes almost 274,000 euros; the Council of Tenerife, 535,800; the Government of the Canary Islands, 746,700 euros, and 995,600 euros, the Ministry of Public Works.
The shovels were already working yesterday in the common spaces of the urbanization. To reach this point, it has been necessary to travel a path that has not been easy: it began in 2018, with the meeting of Mena and the then councilor of the government group Francisco Marichal with the director of the Canary Islands Housing Institute (Icavi), a meeting thanks to which the project was included in the State Housing Plan 2018-2021.
It must be remembered that other municipalities in Tenerife, such as Santa Cruz, have made public investments in recent years to reform their social housing stock. In the case of Arona, Virgen del Carmen is a milestone, as it is the first to start up. In the rest of the southern region of the Island, there are almost no other examples of comprehensive reform and rehabilitation actions of these characteristics.
COMPREHENSIVE REFORMS UNDERWAY
In addition to these 70 social homes in the Virgen del Carmen urbanization, the municipality of Arona adds up to 375, taking into account the 204 in San Martín de Porres, in Cabo Blanco, and the 101 in Hermano Pedro y Vento, in the area around the town. Arona history.
Thanks to these works, the Virgen del Carmen urbanization, in Guargacho, will have a completely renovated appearance, with modern spaces adapted for the elderly and people with mobility problems, ramps, garden areas and a children’s area for the smallest of the community. urbanization.