Fátima Lemes, Mayor of Arona, maintains her priority commitment to creating more affordable housing in the municipality. Additionally, she criticises the opposition, especially the PSOE, for their entanglements on such a crucial issue for the residents after refusing to support an institutional motion that was heading in the same direction, only to present another one to the council this Thursday with the same purpose but with approaches contrary to regulations.
“We have held meetings with the Tenerife Island Council and the Government of the Canary Islands, and we will continue to do so to acquire land for building houses or release existing ones,” Lemes emphasized.
Last Tuesday, the PSOE and the Mixed Group voted against including an institutional motion in this Thursday’s council session in favour of housing, and therefore, this issue was not part of the agenda.
The motion, presented by the municipal government in the Arona City Council, formed by the Popular Party, Coalition Canaria and More for Arona, urged urgent actions to address the housing crisis by the Spanish Government, the Canary Islands Government, and the Tenerife Island Council.
The Arona Government exposed in that motion the severe housing crisis affecting the municipality, which represents “a social and economic challenge, something that affects the well-being of families and the sustainability of our economy and social model,”. In the case of Arona, there are more reasons, as it is “an area with high tourist and labour demand, where the scarcity of affordable housing has led to a crisis of availability for sector workers, causing further mobility problems due to forced long commutes”.”
After rejecting the institutional motion in the Spokespersons’ Committee, the PSOE presents another one to the council that advocates the same thing with one caveat: it includes that the Council urges the Government of the Canary Islands to request the designation of Arona as a tensioned municipality.
This is a consideration provided in the housing law that defines these areas in major cities where the cost of rent or mortgage exceeds 30% of the average family income. It entails compensatory measures to rectify this imbalance.
The PSOE motion failed this Thursday with the government group voting against it, in a council session where the mayor reproached the socialists for first rejecting measures in favour of social housing policies and then agreeing with another motion that, furthermore, cannot be implemented. Fátima Lemes reminded the PSOE that the designation of a tensioned area falls outside municipal competencies, therefore, if approved, it would have no legal validity as the autonomous communities are competent in this matter.
Lemes made it clear that despite the opposition’s rejection of the institutional motion, she will continue to prioritize improvements in housing in Arona during her current term.
