Las Palmas solely funds public housing unpaid by Canary government

The mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Carolina Darias, emphasised on Monday that the council she chairs is «funding out of its own pocket» affordable public rental housing that the Canary Islands Government included in the 2020-2025 plan but subsequently refused to pay for.

He criticised this whilst presenting, in the Escaleritas neighbourhood, specifically on Calle Concejal García Feo, next to the Pepe Gonçalvez football pitch, a public housing development comprising 115 homes with between one and five bedrooms, the tender for which was published on Monday on the Public Sector Procurement Platform.

Héctor Martínez, an architect in the Town Planning Department of the Town Council and the designer of the project, has explained that it is situated on a plot of land between Concejal García Feo Street and Virgen del Pilar Street.

It is a triangular plot measuring 154 metres in length and 30 metres in average width, with a significant difference in level ranging from 6 metres to 19 metres in height; the project therefore focuses, first and foremost, on levelling the site.

This development will comprise two eight-storey blocks, containing 55 and 60 flats respectively, which will occupy half of the plot; the remaining half is set to feature a landscaped open space and two underground car park levels with capacity for 137 parking spaces.

The flats will have between one and five bedrooms: 10 with one bedroom, 37 with two, 67 with three, 9 with four, five of which are accessible, and two with five bedrooms, the municipal architect explained.

The mayor has emphasised that «Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council has done its bit to improve people’s lives and respond to an urgent need».

Darias emphasised that this development will feature communal spaces, as «it is not just about building, but also about living», and will involve an investment of 22.4 million euros, to be financed entirely from municipal funds, with a construction period of over 22 months.

«This is an extraordinary and exceptional initiative, namely, a local council single-handedly funding the construction of housing, and this is thanks to the determination and commitment of the city council that I have the honour of chairing, to ensure we continue to make progress in providing new social housing,» he stated.

This development formed part of the Canary Islands Housing Plan, which was signed in June 2020, under which these homes «were funded by the Canary Islands Government as part of that plan».

«However, during this term of office we were told that it was not possible, that there was no money and that, consequently, the regional government was not going to fund it,» he said.

In light of this response from the regional government, «the decision was clear», he said, because «people’s needs take precedence over decisions that are difficult to understand».

«For us, housing is a top priority. Without housing, there is no life, or it is very difficult to make life easier for people. That is why this mayor and this council are determined to continue making progress on housing, as we have been doing throughout this term of office and also during part of the previous one. We are refurbishing around 1,500 homes with Next Generation funds in La Paterna, Jinámar and La Isleta, and rebuilding 76 in Tamaraceite and 148 in Las Rehoyas», which will be handed over shortly.

The mayor also referred to the nearly 400 homes currently under construction with funding from the Spanish and Canary Islands governments, in addition to those being built by the Gran Canaria Island Council in El Secadero and those currently in the planning stage: 240 for which the city has provided land and the 115 submitted on Monday.

«All of these measures are bringing us closer to achieving our new objective, which was to build around 1,000 social rental homes in various forms to address one of the public’s main concerns, if not the most important one today,» he said.

Darias referred to the City Council’s request for the capital of Gran Canaria to be designated by the Canary Islands Government as a residential area under pressure, and said that the City Council «has been waiting far too long, since April 2024», for a decision on this matter; she therefore welcomes the fact that it is expected to be put out for public consultation this month, a procedure of which she has not yet been officially informed.