On Thursday, the Canary Islands Government’s Minister for Public Works, Pablo Rodríguez (CC), accused Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council of having allowed residential buildings to be converted into hotels and tourist accommodation, which has reduced the supply of housing and forced residents out of neighbourhoods such as Guanarteme, whilst at the same time it called for the city to be designated a ‚high-demand area‘.
In response to a question from Carmen Hernández, a member of the Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista party, regarding the designation of the capital of Gran Canaria as an area with a tight housing market, Rodríguez pointed out that the municipal town planning regulations had allowed entire residential blocks to be converted into hotels, and argued that the City Council could have amended its master plan to prevent this.
He has also blamed the local council, made up of the PSOE, Nueva Canarias and Podemos, for contributing to the reduction in the housing supply and the exodus of residents from the city’s neighbourhoods.
Las Palmas: Rodríguez blames the city for the housing crisis
Rodríguez has criticised the fact that political parties which have been governing the city for more than eight years are pointing the finger at other local authorities over housing problems without, in his view, taking responsibility for the town-planning decisions taken in the capital of Gran Canaria.
«It is regrettable that you are trying to point the finger at everyone except yourselves, who have been governing Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for more than eight years, driving people out of their neighbourhoods,» he asserted.
Housing Act: Motion covers the whole of Las Palmas
The minister made these remarks during the debate on the council’s application to designate Las Palmas de Gran Canaria as an area with a tight housing market.
He explained that the 2023 State Housing Act allows municipalities that meet certain requirements to be designated as areas under pressure, but that such designation is not automatic and must follow an administrative procedure.
As he explained, the City Council submitted a formal application covering the entire municipality rather than a specific area.
Rodríguez has stated that the regional government requested additional documentation and has argued that the procedure must comply with legal requirements.
Nueva Canarias calls for a cap on rents
For her part, NC MP Carmen Hernández has accused the Canary Islands Government of delaying the process and has argued that the measure would help to cap rent prices and ease the burden on families facing high rents.
The MP has stated that official figures for Catalonia show a fall in rents across the 302 municipalities where this measure has been implemented.
Rodríguez doubts the effectiveness of rent controls
However, the minister has questioned the effectiveness of price caps and has stated that, in Catalonia, the fall in the average is due to a reduction in rents above 2,500 euros, whilst lower rents have not fallen.
He has also claimed that the supply of housing has fallen by more than 20 per cent.
In any case, the minister has argued that rent controls should be considered alongside measures to increase the supply of housing, in order to avoid exacerbating the problem of access to housing.
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