One night like any other, Ariadna tucks her daughter into bed inside her home, a caravan. Every evening she faces the same uncertainty: how long can she live like this; when will the Administration recognize her right to officially exist where she lives? The girl is six years old and has been trying to register her address at her home for three years. Without success.

The Urban Leases Law (LAU) decreed in March 2019 that rental contracts would be extended from three to five years. Now that thousands of contracts are expiring, the situation has worsened compared to five years ago: the price of housing as a speculative asset continues to rise, fueled by demand far exceeding supply. According to figures from the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, island tenants whose contracts end at that time will face a rent increase of €4,615 per year. This increase adds to an already unsustainable situation for many families: the average rent in the Balearic Islands exceeds €1,500, the second highest in Spain after Barcelona. Experts consulted by ARA Balears warn of an increase in legal proceedings stemming not from non-payment of rent, but from the termination of these agreements. "The cases are becoming more and more numerous. The landlord wants to rent at a higher price or sell, and the tenant won't leave because they have nowhere else to go. Evictions are being initiated for this reason," says Natalia Bueno, vice president of the Balearic Islands Association of Real Estate Agents (API). "Some landlords even offer a sum of money to get tenants to leave the apartment, but the response is always the same. They tell you that 2,000 or 3,000 euros, for example, isn't going to solve anything," Bueno explains regarding a deterrent practice previously limited to occupied properties.

Àngela Pons has been a volunteer for various causes since the 1970s, "when social services didn't yet exist." At that time, she was helping out at Can Gazà. She experienced the ravages of heroin, "a real scourge," and 14 years ago joined the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages in Mallorca (PAH), a free association that helps people struggling to pay their mortgages, rent, or facing eviction. Like many others, she selflessly dedicates her free time to defending the right to housing. "We're cooks, and I don't have any education. I had to work hard," she says, referring to skills she learned on the job, forced by the crisis generated by the real estate bubble and the rise in the Euribor, which left thousands of families homeless. "It seemed very unfair to me that, after years of paying the bank, they wouldn't give people a chance when the wealthiest people were getting their loans refinanced," she recalls of her early days. The worsening of the problem, which has become transversal and now extends to rentals, has led the association to expand its services. "Housing has become a inflated stock market product with which companies [investment funds and vultures] make a lot of money. Governments allow them to use housing for speculation instead of stopping the monsters and creating housing. In two years, they evicted 250,000 families," he criticizes.