SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 17 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Minister of Public Works, Housing and Mobility of the Government of the Canary Islands, Pablo Rodríguez, highlighted this Tuesday in a parliamentary commission that his department is developing different measures aimed at promoting access to housing for the young population, such as the youth mortgage programme, cohousing or assistance in the acquisition of the first home.
The minister has insisted that the objective of the Canary Islands Government during this legislature is to “promote new tools to offer young people more possibilities of emancipating themselves since, until now, the measures already established have not been sufficient to encourage Canarians under 35 years of age to build their life project in their own property.”
“Access to housing is key for young Canarians to be able to build their own life project, form a family and contribute to the economic and social development of the islands. Housing, in this context, is not only a basic right, but also a necessity that impacts the well-being and future of an entire generation,” he said in response to a question from the Socialist Group.
Rodríguez recalled that “this Executive has promoted a subsidy of up to 11,000 euros aimed at enabling young Canarians to acquire their first home, in addition to promoting cohousing, a real housing alternative so that they can acquire homes, which are complemented by large community spaces.”
He also reported that the idea is to revive the youth mortgage initiative in order to establish an additional tool that facilitates access to the purchase of property, “closing the framework agreement that all entities will be able to access, and which will be complementary to the project that the Official Credit Institute has launched.”
In this regard, he acknowledged that one of the measures included in the Basque Country Housing Law is being analyzed, which establishes a quota system for young people with the aim of ensuring that at least 40% of unadapted protected housing can be used for people under 36 years of age.” MORE THAN 12,000 APPLICATIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’S BONUS
During his speech, Rodríguez stressed that the youth rental bonus has received more than 12,000 applications, and reported that the available credit has allowed 3,416 people to receive or continue receiving this subsidy of 250 euros per month for a period of 24 months, “a great relief for many young people seeking to emancipate themselves or improve their living conditions.”
However, he said that “the Ministry should make the requirements more flexible, raising the current rental price ceiling, to help young people take the step.”
In the 2022-2024 call, the Government of Spain has allocated a total credit of 21.2 million euros, and has already paid 82%, 17,378,953.05 euros, and so far this year, it has paid 2,452,000 euros, according to a note from the Government.
Along these lines, Rodríguez stressed that “the data demonstrate the great demand and the need to continue advancing in the search for more resources to be able to reach more people in future calls.”
For this reason, at the next Sectoral Conference, which is expected to be held on 3 October, the Ministry is expected to report on the next call for aid, and has announced that the possibility of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands complementing the Ministry’s call for aid with more funding is being assessed.
Finally, Rodríguez announced the convening of a working group with parliamentary spokespersons on housing to address the next Canary Islands Housing Plan.
