María Dolores Corujo, General Secretary of the PSOE in Lanzarote and Congress Deputy, has condemned the “absolute failure” of Oswaldo Betancort regarding housing after more than three years at the helm of the Cabildo. She claims that under his leadership, not a single new public housing project has been initiated.
“Betancort came to the Cabildo promising solutions, yet now, over three years later, the reality is undeniable: there hasn’t been one new public housing initiative launched by his administration. As thousands of families in Lanzarote face a housing crisis, his response has been limited to announcements and empty promises,” said Corujo.
She pointed out that the 201 homes currently under construction in Maneje derive from the Housing Plan 2020-2025 implemented by the socialist government of Ángel Víctor Torres. “After 26 years of Coalition Canaria-led governments that built no public housing in Lanzarote, it took a socialist government to revive public housing initiatives. Now those who did nothing for decades want to take credit for housing developments they found already in progress,” she added.
Corujo particularly highlighted the situation in Arrecife, which has 2,084 of the 3,050 applicants for protected housing in Lanzarote as of the end of 2025. “Two out of three people waiting for protected housing are in Arrecife. Yet during this mandate, the PP and CC have failed to generate new land for public housing,” she stated.
She also noted the sharp increase in rental prices, which have surged by around 40% since the start of the mandate in the capital.
“Arrecife is the hardest-hit municipality, yet we have a council and a Canary Government led by the PP and CC that neither construct sufficient public housing nor utilise existing measures to curb rental prices,” Corujo asserted.
She accused Coalition Canaria and the Popular Party of siding with large property owners by refusing to use tools available under the national Law for the Right to Housing. This legislation allows areas to be declared as having a strained residential market and imposes limits on certain new rental contracts, particularly for properties owned by large landlords.
Moreover, the procedure enables municipalities to initiate requests to declare a distressed zone, with the Canary Government having the authority to act.
“They have no excuses left. There is a law that permits action, the procedure is in place, and a city like Arrecife is facing skyrocketing prices. If the PP and CC choose not to act, it is because they do not wish to,” Corujo concluded.
