Torres calls for agreement on homes in Canary Islands tourist zones

Canary Islands PSOE leader Ángel Víctor Torres has called on the regional government to agree a solution for people living in homes in tourist zones, an issue that concerns housing policy across the archipelago, including Fuerteventura.

Torres said any response should be agreed with the Plataforma de Afectados por la Ley Turística (PALT), which represents affected residents, and with political groups. He was speaking on 6 November after meeting PALT president Maribe Doreste alongside Socialist deputy spokesperson Elena Máñez.

He said at least 70,000 people were affected and argued that residents should be able to keep their homes. Torres also announced that he would respond to the platform’s request for a meeting with Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez to discuss their situation.

Disagreement over legislation

Torres criticised the Coalición Canaria and Partido Popular government’s response to a popular legislative initiative backed by more than 20,000 signatures. He said the government had set it aside on the grounds that it would introduce a tourism law, but that no such law had been passed.

He also said the two governing parties had voted against the Socialist parliamentary group’s latest proposed law without addressing the substance of the issue. If the government now pursues a decree-law, Torres argued, it should not be taken to the Canary Islands Parliament without agreement from the platform and political groups.

The PSOE leader recognised tourism’s importance to the islands but said its protection should not come at the expense of residents’ homes and wellbeing. He also questioned sanctions imposed on affected people, claiming that none had been signed under the previous government, which he led, and that all had been signed during the current parliamentary term.