The owners of apartments from Las Palmas who do not sell in the tourism sector because they use it as a residence have managed to sneak into the electoral debate for the May 2023 elections. The consensus imposed by the PSOE in the Government of the Canary Islands not to speak This issue has a double effect: that the owners share residence, in the case of married couples, between Las Palmas and the south of the island.
The local parties, especially Nueva Canarias, which controls Urbanism, are concerned because they fear that an issue foreign to the neighbors will monopolize the elections when the gentlemen of Las Palmas mostly vulgarize the destination by not complying with due respect for the basic rules of coexistence (towels placed inappropriately or noises in rest environments).
That is to say: the wear and tear on the debate on the presence of individuals living in tourist apartments is an electoral time bomb on the candidacy of Carolina Darias in the Palmas City Council and Augusto Hidalgo in the Gran Canaria Council. Most of the owners are heirs of Francoist officials from the Falange or who bought due to the plummeting prices after the bursting of the 2008 bubble.
The problem for residents in the south of Gran Canaria in the opinion of owners who operate large units is that they vulgarize the destination and do not defend it either because their developments are a mess and have generated a drag effect on nearby shopping centers. Who is going to invest in shopping centers when the potential buyers are not tourists? That's the equation.
The professor of Human Geography at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Ulpgc), Josefina Domínguez, has warned that "it is easier to implement a moratorium than to regulate vacation homes" given the heterogeneous profile of the owners and the fact that it is the responsibility of the town councils via ordinance. She has indicated that according to a survey carried out by the ULPGC, 20% of residents in the Canary Islands have a second residence.
He has admitted that holiday housing "generates conflicts" and has insisted that "it is not that simple" to regulate because the property is very complex, even in the hands of large investment funds. "They escape our control and make territorial planning more difficult, it is no longer just the moratorium, it filters invisibly into the territory, it is a new stage of digital capitalism," he added.
