Playa Blanca public housing stalled: Yaiza mayor takes 136 homes to Cabildo plenary

Two public housing schemes in Playa Blanca remain at a standstill, and the matter is going back to the plenary of the Cabildo de Lanzarote. Oscar Noda, mayor of Yaiza and an opposition councillor on the island authority, has tabled a follow-up motion calling on the Canary Islands Government, the Canarian Housing Institute (ICAVI) and the Cabildo itself to act within their respective powers. At stake are 136 affordable rental homes at Montana Roja and the allocation of 42 homes already completed and handed over to ICAVI at the Los Ajaches residential development.

The motion follows up on an agreement passed unanimously on 25 June, when the Cabildo backed his proposal to demand adequate funding under the State Housing Plan 2026-2030 for the 136 public homes. According to information given at the time to Yaiza council by the regional minister for public works, housing and mobility, Pablo Rodriguez Valido, the construction contract should have gone out to tender in summer 2025.

"That support from the Cabildo mattered, but a political agreement that is not carried out solves no family's problem. What is needed now are dates, budget and contracts," Noda says.

Yaiza council transferred 42,000 square metres of public land at Montana Roja to the Canary Islands Government, with all technical and legal guarantees in place. The scheme was first announced with 126 homes; the current project stands at 136 units for affordable rent. The design work is complete, the investment is around 34 million euros, and 400 people in the municipality are already registered as applicants for subsidised rental housing.

The wider housing picture in southern Lanzarote

Playa Blanca is one of the island's fastest-growing resort areas, and the same rental stock that serves visitors is competing with the needs of the workers who keep the hotels, restaurants and marinas running. Both schemes under discussion concern regulated rentals rather than sales, and access depends on being listed in the official register of housing applicants. Residents who work in the municipality and have not yet registered can check their status at the Yaiza town hall offices or through ICAVI, since registration is the precondition for taking part in any future allocation round.