CANARY COALITION AND PP have this Friday rejected the proposal to designate Santa Cruz de Tenerife as a stressed housing area during a plenary session, reiterating the mantra about the housing crisis (despite the fact that occupied homes across Spain represent only 0.05% of the total vacancies). Councillor Carlos Tarife (PP) remarked that reporting a stolen vehicle is easier than addressing the situation where someone changes the lock on your house. The initiative to implement the Housing Law came from the Socialist Group, which was the sole faction to vote in favour.
Councillor Elena Mateo (PSOE) supported her party’s motion to classify the city as a tension zone, as “one only needs to observe the rental market to realise, with properties costing a thousand euros per month or a room in the city centre valued at 1,300 euros,” she highlighted. In this context, she referenced data from Catalonia, which clearly indicates that the rental supply diminished prior to the enforcement of the Housing Law, with large investment firms withdrawing from the housing market in that autonomous community.
Mateo pointed out that in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, there is a shift of housing towards other markets such as holiday rentals, and that the City Council fails to adopt the conclusions put forth by the Bank of Spain, which highlight the necessity of imposing taxes on vacant properties or regulating holiday rentals to expand the housing stock.
“What plan do they have for vacant homes?” questioned the socialist councillor, who reminded everyone that she had opposed a measure from her own party in the same plenary session that aimed to impose a tax on empty houses.
Councillor Carlos Tarife insisted on the need to understand why there are so many empty properties and expressed his rejection of increasing taxes on those who, “out of fear, do not rent their homes,” suggesting that this fear stems from the issue of squatting. “I rent in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and I own a vehicle. Do you understand the distinction between someone stealing my vehicle and someone breaking into my home to change the lock? The difference is that I can report the theft to the police and reclaim my vehicle, but if I report that someone has entered my home, I must wait.”
“The reports back our stance,” stated CC councillor Ana Belén Mesa Vilar. She also pointed out that Santa Cruz is not predominantly a tourist municipality and dismissed the impact of holiday rentals.
The local government emphasises the detrimental effects of designating Santa Cruz as a stress zone and refers to the municipal housing report, stating that it does not necessitate a rental market and that prices would escalate.
José Manuel Bermúdez, the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, recalled that this is not the first occasion housing issues have been addressed. He referenced the municipal housing report, which concludes that Santa Cruz de Tenerife meets the criteria for being designated as a tension area, “as it constitutes a widespread issue,” but added that price regulation is not an effective approach since the root problem lies in supply scarcity, which this strategy is bound to exacerbate.
Bermúdez defended the findings of the report, stating that price regulation within a market economy “does not yield the outcomes claimed” and questioned, “If the PSOE is so certain about this, why didn’t they incorporate it into the law as a requirement? Why isn’t it mandated? It isn’t mandated because the effectiveness is not assured,” he asserted.
Additionally, both CC and PP referenced the homes promised by Pedro Sánchez that have yet to materialise over the past years, without holding the Government of the Canary Islands accountable or recalling that during Clavijo’s previous administration, there were also no public housing initiatives launched.
