The local Government of Granadilla de Abona is set to carry out an initiative that could serve as an example to other municipalities in Canarias in the quest for options to increase social housing: expropriating unfinished buildings and offering them to residents with limited resources.
It is one of the key strategies announced by the Granadilla mayor, the socialist Jennifer Miranda, on Friday. According to a statement from the City Council, this strategy “involves creating an inventory of unfinished buildings to, once their owners are identified, demand their completion and even, if they are not finished, initiate an expropriation process, transferring them to municipal ownership for subsequent rehabilitation and availability as public housing.”
The plan promoted by the southern Government involves identifying publicly-owned land earmarked for facilities and reclassifying it as residential land for public housing, as advocated by the Granadilla mayoress.
Meeting of the Granadilla de Abona mayor and municipal technicians to address the housing issue. / El Día
The shortage of public housing in Granadilla de Abona, coupled with the exponential rise in rental prices, is “one of the most concerning issues for the municipality’s citizens,” highlighted the City Council in the statement.
It is a problem affecting all of Tenerife and one that administrations, like in the case of Granadilla de Abona, are attempting to address with various measures, primarily the construction of new residential buildings.
The plan of the southern Government involves identifying publicly-owned land earmarked for facilities and reclassifying it as residential land for public housing
To tackle this issue, the mayoress held a meeting with technicians and officials from the Planning, Community Wellbeing, and Urbanism department to plan the strategy that the municipal government will implement in the short and medium term with the aim of expanding the supply of public housing in the municipality at affordable prices.
Having a public housing stock in Granadilla de Abona is one of the fundamental objectives of her government for this term, stated Miranda Barrera, who emphasized that “housing is a priority for our government.”
Aerial panorama of Granadilla de Abona municipality. / El Día
In this regard, the mayoress explained that this strategy complements other initiatives undertaken in these nearly eight months of her term, “such as the transfer of over 3,000 square meters of land to the Canarian Institute of Housing (Icavi) or the unblocking of 294 housing units in Los Hinojeros, which will be offered by their current owners at affordable rental prices.”
The latter case refers to eight buildings located in the urban area of Granadilla de Abona that remain unfinished, whose acquisition by Orion Rental from the Asset Management Company of Bank Restructuring was made possible by 38 investors who facilitated the transaction through a contribution of €7,360,500.
The land transferred to the Canarian Government for the construction of public housing in the municipality amounts to 3,300 square meters, consisting of 2,772 square meters of land included in the Cuevas de Cho Portada Partial Plan and another plot located within the Poncela Action Unit, totaling 536 square meters. It is noteworthy that both areas are in the town of San Isidro.
