«The next few months will be dramatic in Mallorca: many people will be left homeless because they will not be able to pay the rent». This is the warning message sent by the spokesperson for the Platform for People Affected by Mortgage (PAH), Àngela Pons, warning that “the situation is even worse than that experienced in the 2010 crisis.”
As reported Breaking Newshundreds of tenants in Mallorca face increases of between 50% and 70% in the rental price in the coming months, as the contracts signed in 2020 end (they have a duration of five years), as confirmed by the president of the Association of Real Estate Agents (API) of the Balearic Islands, José Miguel Artieda. «The price of housing has gone from about 800 euros, on average, to 1,300 euros in just five years», he highlights.
Pons assures that it is economic figures “totally unaffordable for many people”“, so he assures that “many will be seen on the street.” At this point, he argues that in recent months they have noticed a very notable increase in tenants who go to the PAH to ask for help. “We are overwhelmed, every day numerous families come to us because their contracts are about to end and the landlord demands crazy amounts from them or, some even no longer give them the possibility of renewing the contract,” he laments.
Increase in evictions
The PAH spokesperson insists that the coming months will be dramatic and predicts a very significant increase in evictions in Mallorcasince to the tenants who will lose their home due to not being able to pay the rent, we must add that of the approximately 200 people who are in Son Bordoy, and another 200 squatters who are in the old prison of Palma.
«It will be much worse than what we experienced in 2010, which was already terrible. Now any middle class person, with salaries of 1,500-1,800 net euros per month can lose their home, since they need the full salary to pay the rent. What do you live with? How do you eat, pay for electricity, water, etc.,” he reproaches. It should be noted that in the housing crisis of 2010 the main problem was the inability to pay mortgages, while now it has moved to rents.
Emergency solutions
Faced with this situation, Pons calls on public institutions emergency solutionsto. One of them is rehabilitate disused buildings, such as hotels or monasteriesto “prevent people who are going to be homeless soon from having at least a room to live in while they find a better solution.”
In the specific case of the residents of Son Bordoy, the PAH spokesperson asks the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, that enables prefabricated housessince it is “a completely acceptable alternative because there are models that cost 3,500 euros, and are manufactured by the company Conteneres Lucenses SL.” At this point, he emphasizes that “for the municipal budget it is perfectly acceptable and they could be installed on municipal lots.”
However, it clarifies that all these are emergency solutions, while it can provide a definitive solution and «guarantee the right to housingas established by the Constitution. In his view, “there are possible measures to end the housing emergency, what there is no political will».
