Waiters have warning for UK tourists heading to Tenerife where missing Jay Slater last seen

Spanish waiters have a warning UK tourists flocking to bars, restaurants and hotels in Tenerife.

With a lack of affordable housing, staff members are now living in tents, creating shanty towns in popular European Union holiday destinations - including the island of Tenerife where missing Jay Slater was last seen.

Miguel de Abreu Freitas is one such individual. Among many others, he is now living in a tent in Costa del Silencio. A surge in rental costs in the Canary Islands led to his eviction, along with numerous others, from a residential building nearby.

Read more: Tenerife tourists warned to 'stay alert to island's dark side' after Jay Slater disappearance

As housing prices rise in Tenerife, make-shift towns have emerged as low-paid service sector workers find themselves unable to meet rent payments. This bleak reality has been reported to The Telegraph newspaper in the UK.

A 65-year-old kitchen assistant named Jose, who works in a hotel, was previously renting a property for £340 per month until it was converted into a short-term let for holidaymakers by the owner. Explaining his predicament, Jose said: "Now anything with one or two bedrooms costs at least €900. I earn minimum wage, €1,100.", reports Birmingham Live.

He said if he was required to pay such high rent, simply eating would become impossible. His meals are prepared over a gas cooker.

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Jose Antonio Diez Davila, Co-ordinator of Mobile Street Outreach Units (UMAC) at Caritas Diocesana de Tenerife, informed Canarian Weekly: "We have been sounding the alarm for years about housing access problems and homelessness in Tenerife, especially in the south."

An analysis conducted by Caritas, a confederation of Catholic relief services, reveals that 2,400 individuals across the island are residing in shanties, substandard housing or other makeshift structures such as tents and campervans. This comes as the Canary Islands government introduces new regulations stipulating that holiday rentals can only be licenced if the building is at least a century old and the apartment spans at least 39 square metres.