Mallorca has 55,256 homes built on rural land, 15,817 of which could be contrary to current urban planning regulations, according to data from the project Houses That Don't Exist, presented this Monday to the Official College of Architects of the Balearic Islands. The research, led by urban planner Miquel Rosselló Xamena, puts figures to a phenomenon often invisible in public debate: the proliferation of homes on rural land.

"We want a Spain of property owners, not of proletarians." This is the famous phrase attributed to José Luis Arrese, the first Minister of Housing during the Franco regime (1957-1960), and is related to the one uttered in 1946 by Amintore Fanfani, the leader of the Italian Christian Democrats:Non tutti proletarian, tutti ownerIn the midst of the postwar period, many Spaniards abandoned their villages to live in the cities, which had become the new economic hubs. This exodus highlighted the country's housing crisis. The first law on affordable housing dated back to 1911, which ended up housing large families in quite unsanitary conditions. The government lowered the pre-war rents, simultaneously extending contracts indefinitely and promoting a plan for socially protected housing (VPO), but, in reality, this last plan was a tool to defuse any social unrest. The plan was drawn up in 1954, three years before the creation of the relevant ministry and one year after the Madrid Pacts, with which Spain abandoned self-sufficiency thanks to financial support from the United States. The housing could be repaid in a maximum of 10 years. Despite very high interest rates, the price of the apartments was reasonable.