The Canary Islands Government Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing, Sebastián Franquis, has said this Tuesday that his Executive is working on legal measures to help prevent “skyrocketing” evictions from “spiking” on the islands once the state of alarm is again officially de-escalated this coming May 9.
Franquis detailed that the Government has already enabled €20 million in rental aid and has exempted €2.7 million from having to be paid in public housing, with the objective to deliver all pending aid before May 9 and help to prevent skyrocketing evictions.
To do this, last week the Regional Governing Council approved the hiring of 32 extra people to work on the implementation of the Housing Plan and streamline aid, and it is expected that over the next 10 days another 588 applications will be granted to add to the 1,420 that have already been delivered.
The spokesman for Sí Podemos, Manuel Marrero, commented when the state of alarm ends “a new difficult to contain front may be opened” producing an “avalanche” of evictions because the economic situation “is getting worse” and many ERTE recipients may end up being converted to ERE.
“The situation could be serious,” he commented, because the payment of rent for many homes is at risk, which is why he has asked for the aid to be expedited as much as possible.
“It is a priority that social rent arrives as soon as possible and evictions are not allowed without a housing alternative,” he pointed out, defending the way opened by the Balearic Government who have decided to expropriate empty apartments to put them on the market or the Paris City Council, which has multiplied the tax on vacant properties by a factor of three.
