The Canary Islands Government Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Housing on Friday presented their new rental assistance aid package for 2020-21, through the Canarian Institute of Housing, with a budget of €17.5m in financing collaboration with the Ministry of Mobility, Transport and Urban Agenda. The subsidy is intended to guarantee access to rental housing for the most vulnerable sectors of the population in the Canary Islands as well as young people who wish to access their first properties. The applications call for this benefit package has been launched this Monday January 18, and is one of the first  new Housing Plan of the Canary Islands 2020-25 programs to be implemented.

 


The main recipients of this aid will be people of legal age and residents in Spain who have a rental contract for a home in the Canary Islands and who meet the stipulated rental price limits and certain income conditions. Within the applicant profiles, this aid will prioritise large or single-parent families; coexistence units that include victims of gender violence or coexistence units that include people with functional diversity, or registered disability, to a degree equal to or greater than 33%.

Sebastián Franquis from the Canary Islands Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Housing said “We are launching one of the most important programs for the Canary Islands Housing Plan because we not only build and rehabilitate housing, we also help families who are in a situation of social and economic vulnerability to pay part of their rent, and we are aware that the demand for housing in the Canary Islands is much higher ”.

The rental Assistance aid package subsidies will be divided into two lines of aid, on the one hand, for general rent and for those over 65 for which the government can subsidise up to 40% of the rent, or 50% in the event that all the people in the family unit are over 65 years of age. On the other hand, there are rental subsidies available for people under 35 years of age, who may be subsidised up to 50% of their rent for the property and, exceptionally, dependent persons over 35 years of age who may live in it.

Those who qualify as beneficiaries can be subsidised on rental receipts for the period starting January 1, 2020 through until December 31, 2021.  Franquis recalled that “it will be an essential requirement” to indicate in the application for these grants, which of the two types is being applied for (general rental aid and for those over 65 years of age or aid for those under 35 years of age) to be able to proceed with assessment by the Canarian Housing Institute (ICAVI).

In order to apply for this aid, the income of the coexistence unit must be equal to or less than 3 times the IPREM (Public Indicator of Multiple Effects Income) except for certain specific cases, such as large families or those with members with functional diversity, where the income allowable may reach 4 or 5 times the IPREM.

Request method

Applications for the rental assistance aid package can be submitted starting from January 18 through to March 5 both in person and online through the Canarian Housing Institute or at the offices of the Canarian Chambers of Commerce, with which an agreement has been reached for the provision of services for this applications call for rental assistance. Faced with the current Covid-19 health crisis and in order to achieve agile and efficient processing, the ICAVI will prioritise telematic applications for which wide coverage of care has already been prepared. For this modality, anyone who do not have an electronic signature certificate or electronic ID can register without difficulty using the “Cl@ve Permanente” system or by calling 012, dependent on the Government of the Canary Islands, to request this process.

In the event that face-to-face presentation is chosen, it will preferably take place at the offices of the Canarian Chambers of Commerce or the Canary Islands Housing Institute (ICAVI) upon request for a prior appointment by calling 012, or at any of the records provided for in the regulations of the administrative procedure. General information, on the form and presentation of applications, can be obtained on the ICAVI website (https://www.gobiernodecanarias.org/vivienda/), by calling 012, or at the Canary Islands Chambers of Commerce.

The participation of the Chamber of Commerce is part of an agreement signed with the four chamber organisations in the Archipelago that establishes that the Chambers will be collaborating entities for the provision of collection services for the requests of citizens who demand general rental assistance, expanding the staff and technical resources for the Canarian Housing Institute.

Franquis pointed out that the Government of the Canary Islands “is working on a preliminary project, which is being developed by the Ministry of Social Services, where it is foreseen that within the “Income for Citizenship” a supplement for housing will be created,” adding that “the objective is for this aid to form part of that complement, therefore, it could be the last call for this subsidy, since it is desirable that it becomes an economic benefit that is paid monthly.”

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