The president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has claimed this Tuesday in the regional Parliament that there has been a change of direction in the policy of building public housing in the archipelago, by allocating "more" economic resources than "ever" for this purpose.
Clavijo was responding to the intervention of the deputy of the Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-bc) group, Alberto Campos, during the control session, after he asked him about the actions that the Canary Executive plans to promote, within its competencies, to tackle the problem of access to housing and the rise in rental prices.
The head of the regional Executive has emphasized that three decrees on housing have already been approved and has insisted that what "has been done is to allocate funds, more than ever, for the construction of public housing," in addition to mentioning the processing of a specific decree in the Canary Islands to "facilitate access to housing for the Canarians."
Alongside this, he has recalled that the requirements for years of residence in the islands to be able to apply for sustainable rental housing or public housing have been "tightened," and he has also referred to the preparation of a document aimed at limiting the purchase of properties by foreigners, an operation that, as he stated, represents "a third of those that are bought."
The Canary president has acknowledged that in the islands, with current salaries, it is "not" possible to compete in purchasing power, although he has defended that important "work has been done to raise salaries" through the signing of two agreements with the tourism sector.
In any case, he has admitted that it is essential to raise productivity in order to continue increasing remuneration, although he has pointed out that during "this term, salaries have been raised more than ever in any other term of the Government of the Canary Islands."
CAMPOS CRITICIZES HOUSING PRICES
For his part, the NC-bc deputy Luis Campos has reproached Clavijo that this supposed change in trend translates into the fact that in 2026 "the price of rent has increased by 8%," while the cost of second-hand housing "by 7%."
In this line, he has reproached the regional president that "he has not recovered a single one of the 211,000 empty homes that exist" in the Canary Islands, while "the registry of housing applicants has increased by thousands of people."
"That is the reality, Mr. Clavijo, and that is your responsibility as your responsibility, also in housing matters, was to sign on May 23, two days before the elections, a commitment with the Platform of Affected to guarantee their residence, their housing, their apartment, which they bought in their day. And you deceived them," Campos reproached him from the podium.
The nationalist deputy has also referred to "different reports" that, as he pointed out, place the Canary Islands again among the "poorest" communities in Spain, with 704,000 people at risk of exclusion and where, "unfortunately," child poverty in the archipelago "remains the highest in all of Spain."
In relation to this data, he indicated that these reports agree that the "main cause of exclusion is housing," since 293,000 people in the Canary Islands "cannot" currently afford the monthly payment of their mortgage or rent.