The Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council, formed by an agreement between the Canary Islands Coalition (CC) and the Popular Party (PP), is preparing the eviction of homeless people located on the beach of the Maritime Park, on the south coast of the capital of Tenerife. Agents of the corporation, the Local and National Police and also the Port Authority, owner of the land, informed the owners of a total of 25 booths on Monday that they had to leave there to “recover this public space”, in an act that activists in the fight for decent housing in the Canary Islands they have branded the homeless as “persecution”.
The number of homeless people in Tenerife skyrockets, with almost 1,000 more than in 2020
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The march of those affected is not yet mandatory. The security forces have “invited” people to do so, but so far only 12 of the 25 counted owners of the tents have left the area, As reported by the capital city council this morning. Their presence had multiplied in recent weeks, according to the president of the Municipal Social Care Institute (IMAS), Rosario González, although there are those who had been living on this beach for six months, located between the La Hondura pier and the jetty next to Castle Black.
The eviction has been being explored for a few months by the local entity and the Parque Marítimo company, concessionaire of the land owned by the Port Authority. In the words of González, this company has reported on several occasions that the booths cannot continue in said location and that there have been “mishaps” with them. The homeless were receiving treatment by the Mobile Approach Unit (UMA), but they were informed ten days ago that there was going to be a “cleaning” of remains and belongings this Monday and, in addition, a legal proceeding against those who continue to on the beach after it to “complete” the eviction.
Activists in the fight for decent housing in the Canary Islands have classified the action as another chapter of the “persecution” of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council against those who are homeless. They criticize that it is “housing aporophobia” and that it is not the first time it has happened. Elena Matamala, a long-term homelessness researcher and social worker at the Fundación Salud y Comunidad, in the Valencian Community, believes that In cases like this, mediation and personalized attention should prevail..
The IMAS has offered emergency resources to those affected, but many of them have refused to stay at the Municipal Reception Center, something that usually happens in many cases. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, according to González, there are just over a hundred places in this regard. In accordance with the last update of Caritasmore than 2,700 people sleep rough on the island of Tenerife, although it is an underestimated reality, experts warn.
On the other hand, it is not the first time that the Santa Cruz corporation has been reproached for its behavior towards neighbors who are undoubtedly socially excluded. Also during the heavy summer, the opposition, then led by PSOE and Unidas Podemos, censured the “harassment” suffered by the residents of Santa Cruz de Tenerife who slept in private cars because they did not have a roof and were constantly fined by police officers. Local, covered by a Mobility Ordinance that was repealed by the Supreme Court
Antonio was one of those people. relates to Canary Islands Now who came to feel “persecuted” for three weeks while spending the night on Las Teresitas beach after losing his home and job during the pandemic. He assures that he felt “constant discrimination” by the institution. And members of the Acampada Vindicativa por un hogar in the capital of Tenerife exposed this story and others in the heart of the island’s capital.
“In the municipality, many of the homeless people who live in cars or in adapted vans are not being registered. In addition, they suffer permanent persecution by the city council, which forces them to leave by warning them of being fined, despite the fact that all of them have the corresponding reports from the social services that reflect the situation of social exclusion and vulnerability in which they find themselves. find,” said Eloy Cuadra, one of the members of the collective.
The housing emergency in Santa Cruz de Tenerife is reaching levels rarely seen so far. The city has just been recognized as the municipality with more than 200,000 inhabitants with the highest percentage of empty homes in Spain (17.3%). Between 2015 and 2021, the average residential rental price increased by 13.93%, according to data from the Rental Housing Price Index (IPVA). But it is foreseeable that this figure does not include all the abusive increases denounced by the neighborhood groups.
Also between 2010 and 2019, the Santa Cruz city council invested a total of 25.4 million euros in housing policies, an average of 2.54 million per year, according to the Housing and Land Observatory. In comparison, San Cristóbal de La Laguna invested almost double, 4.8 million, despite having around 50,000 fewer inhabitants.
“[Somos] aware of the continued inaction of our administrations, not knowing or wanting to expand the public housing stock, nor stop vulture funds and other real estate speculators, nor control or limit vacation rentals, nor approve laws tending to fit out new houses…”, lists the Claim Camp in a statement.
