Ara Balears in English - homelessness

Death visits Casa Lola, Ibizan paradigm of urban and tourist illegality

Vicent Tur — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 07:51:40 +0000

His name was Valentín Cabrera Zaracho, he was 48 years old and was from Paraguay. He worked in construction from Monday to Friday and as a security guard on weekends. He was "very happy" because he had been able to legalize his status in the country during the Spanish government's recent regularization; he planned to bring his son to live with him in Ibiza. Death, in the form of a fire, caught him in his makeshift dwelling on the Casa Lola estate, in the municipality of Sant Josep de sa Talaia, on Sunday, September 27, past 7 in the morning. With burns on 90% of his body, still conscious and suffering from extreme pain, he was evacuated by ambulance. He died at Can Misses the same day at 5 in the afternoon.

The residents of the old Palma prison now live on Can Pere Antoni beach and at Bellver Castle

ARA Balears — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 10:44:50 +0000

The people recently evicted from the old Palma prison have been relocated to various points in the city, such as Can Pere Antoni beach, the green area next to the Gesa building, and Bellver forest. This was denounced this Friday by the NGO Doctors of the World, which warns that the eviction has not resolved the situation of vulnerability, but has only displaced and made it invisible.

A macro-count will X-ray homelessness and residential exclusion in the Balearic Islands

ARA Balears — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 14:44:46 +0000

The Balearic Islands will conduct this September the largest count of homeless people and those in situations of residential exclusion that has been promoted so far in the Archipelago. The initiative, promoted by the Social Observatory of the Balearic Islands (OSIB) of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and the Network for Inclusion EAPN Balearic Islands, will deploy nearly 500 volunteers in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants with the aim of sizing a reality that remains largely hidden.

Dying of cold in the street: the shame that portrays us as a society

Sebastià Alzamora — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 06:30:19 +0000

On January 1st, the body of a 52-year-old man was found dead in a park in the Camp Redó neighborhood of Palma. He was homeless and, according to news reports, died from various illnesses. And also, evidently, from the effects of living on the streets and spending nights outdoors during a cold snap.

Homelessness, a symptom of collective failure

Editorial ARA Balears — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:24:08 +0000

In Mallorca, homelessness has ceased to be a marginal phenomenon and has become a structural symptom of collective failure. Along the highways, under the bridges of the ring road, on vacant lots, and in almost invisible corners of Palma, tents, shacks made of plastic and wood, and camper vans—which are, in reality, another facet of the same precariousness—are multiplying. And yet, public administrations continue to act as if all this doesn't exist or as a mere anecdote. They don't know how many settlements there are, how many people live there, what their conditions are, or what their needs are. And if you don't know, it doesn't exist, and you can't offer solutions. Ignorance is, all too often, a mechanism of institutional defense.

Homelessness is getting out of the Administration's control.

Laura López Rigo — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:23:42 +0000

The number of homeless people continues to rise in Mallorca – it should be noted that cages and caravans are included within the category of homelessness. From 2019 to 2023, the increase was 112%: five years ago there were 207 people, two years ago there were already 440, more than double, according to data from the Mallorcan Institute of Social Affairs (IMAS) – this figure is not exact, because it only includes people who are physically present.