The Government of the Canary Islands, in collaboration with other governmental bodies, both insular and local, will build 530 socially affordable rental homes in Tenerife this year, an island with 13,800 registered individuals in need of housing. This was one of the outcomes of the inter-administrative meeting held yesterday between the Island Council and the regional government. Leading the teams of both institutional representations were the president, Rosa Dávila, and the councillor for Public Works, Housing, and Mobility, Pablo Rodríguez. He made it clear that “the whole of Canary Islands is experiencing a housing emergency.” Regarding Roads, there was an agreement on the priority to carry out works on the TF-1 (South) and TF-5 (North) highways to enhance mobility on the island. Specifically, there was urgency in implementing the third lane between Guamasa and Los Rodeos airport.
The meeting also saw the presence of the vice president of the Island Council, Lope Afonso, and the island councillors Dámaso Arteaga (Roads), Eulalia García (Mobility), and Sonia Hernández (Municipal Cooperation and Housing), as well as, from the government’s side, the deputy minister of Infrastructure, Francisco González; the director-general of Road Infrastructure, Rosana Melián; the director of Transport, María Fernández; the Coastal Authority representative, Antonio Acosta; and the head of the Canary Islands Housing Institute (Icavi), Antonio Ortega.
Pablo Rodríguez emphasised, as he did the previous day during the inauguration of a public development in La Orotava, the efforts made by his department to implement innovative, unprecedented measures to provide accurate responses to the more than 13,800 housing applicants in Tenerife. He wanted to underscore the government’s commitment in this area. He noted that “it has been shown that the Canary Islands’ Housing Plan was not sufficient to meet the high housing demand.” He added, “a more ambitious measure was needed to provide real, efficient solutions to tackle this issue in the short term.”
In this regard, Rodríguez stressed that housing is “a priority for the Government of the Canary Islands and also for the Island Council.” He revealed that “this year we are building around 530 homes in Tenerife, both for social rental and affordable housing.” He described it as “a significant milestone” and “if we look at the history of recent years, certainly a record.” He hinted that “we are already planning for the following periods as we must continue to make a very significant commitment to housing.” He explained that “this area will be an absolute priority during this government’s term.”
The councillor indicated that “there are options to obtain land for public housing at affordable prices, including unfinished buildings of which there are several in Tenerife.” However, he noted, “we will also focus on encouraging private developers to put housing on the market.”
Rosa Dávila, on her part, stated that, alongside the efforts of the regional government, “the Island Council is allocating an additional five million euros in this budget exercise with a specific programme, Active Housing – approved by the Government Council on the 7th – to make them available to the municipalities in search of such land.” She summarised, “the aim is to provide homes to the citizens at affordable prices because this is one of their major demands.”
The Island Council president explained that there is a “very interesting” programme from the Government of the Canary Islands to “try to settle the population in rural areas, which we will join by acquiring and assessing the municipalities’ capacity to make it available.” Thus, Rosa Dávila added, “we will try to ensure that, in municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants, at least 5 homes are made available for every 1,000 residents so that this land is gradually settled. It is something to work on.” The initiative was initially designed for the green islands (La Gomera, La Palma, and El Hierro) with a long-standing decline in their rural population, but, as the president explained, “the phenomenon of the emptied island also occurs in Tenerife, especially in the Isla Baja area.”
Regarding the programme to increase the public housing stock under the ownership of Icavi, in Tenerife, the regional government is currently working, on one hand – within the framework of the Canary Islands Housing Plan 2020-2025 – on 123 properties at various stages of development. This initiative is complemented by the development of 65 homes in La Orotava, 17 in El Sauzal, 13 in Güímar, 17 in Santiago del Teide, and 11 in Granadilla de Abona. And, on the other hand, they are
Grants for Housing Development
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Regarding the grants awarded to expand the public housing rental stock, the direct transfer made to the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council stands out within the Canary Islands Housing Plan 2020-2025, for 37 homes in María Jiménez and 29 in Cuevas Blancas; as well as the various Bilateral Commission Agreements, under the State Access to Housing Plan signed with Provivienda for the acquisition of 36 properties on the island, with Visocan for obtaining 13 properties, and with the Municipal Housing and Services Society (MUVISA) for the construction of 151 properties in Los Barriales, Tejina, and El Centurión, and the acquisition of 12 in San Cristóbal de La Laguna.
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Pablo Rodríguez was clear and emphatic: “The entire Canary Islands face a housing emergency.” However, “so far, no municipality in the islands, either in its entirety or for part of its territory, has requested the declaration of a tense area, a possibility allowed by the state housing law to regulate prices. Both Dávila and Afonso also highlighted the five-million-euro fund opened by the Cabildo to purchase undeveloped land or housing in island municipalities – with a maximum of one million for each – and make them available on the market at affordable prices.
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On the other hand, Lope Afonso pointed out that “we have addressed issues of vital importance to Tenerife such as mobility and housing.” He linked mobility as “directly linked to improving the quality of life and also to the competitiveness of productive sectors.” Therefore, he sees it as “essential” to promote road projects, which are already planned. He also emphasized one of the main issues, housing, for which “the Cabildo is providing solutions.”
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Lope Afonso argues that the shortage of housing and the rise of remote workers moving to the island “have been compatible for some time and are not a new issue.” When asked about the announcement this week promoting Tenerife as an ideal place for digital nomads, he insisted that the Cabildo’s intention with the monographic event held yesterday in Los Gigantes is to “show that they are interacting with the local productive fabric.” Therefore, he valued, “they are not only a source of visits but also of economic opportunity.” He also concluded, as the leader of the People’s Party: “We are talking about a form of tourism that is not particularly invasive, it is not a mass profile.”
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Other matters were also discussed during the working meeting between the Cabildo and the regional council, albeit to a lesser extent, such as the execution of projects to improve beach accessibility on the coast or the European Union program for decarbonization and sustainable mobility similar to a transportation POSEI. In relation to the latter, the president of the island council revealed that this program from the continental institution will be implemented in the Isla Baja area, emphasizing that it “is being sensitive to the reality of ultra-peripheral regions.” The goal is to achieve the long-awaited decarbonization and promote sustainable mobility. Dávila also confirmed that the Ofra-El Chorrillo connection project in Santa Cruz, paused for years and started several times without taking off, will be revisited.
