PSOE accuses Canary Islands government of losing €180 million in housing funds

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) has accused the Canary Islands regional government of failing to secure €180 million in state funding from the Ministry of Housing. According to Marta Arocha, the PSOE's second candidate for Congress in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the funds were lost because the archipelago failed to declare 'stressed residential market zones' (zonas tensionadas).

Arocha stated that declaring these zones could have helped mitigate or even lower rising rental prices. While the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has requested such a designation, the regional government has not implemented it across the islands. This exclusion comes amid growing protests regarding housing access and reports indicating that over 700,000 people in the Canary Islands are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, including 150,000 children.

Additionally, the PSOE criticized the Canary Islands Parliament for rejecting a motion to pay the housing supplement of the Canary Islands Citizenship Income this year. The motion was defeated by votes from CC, PP, ASG, AHI, and Vox.