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PalmGiven the magnitude of the housing crisis, the growing concern it generates, and the feeling that the policies applied so far have not addressed the problem with the necessary ambition, it is essential to start focusing also on possible solutions. It is a matter too serious to resign ourselves to repeating well-known diagnoses. The housing crisis is today a great social crisis, because it directly affects people's right to develop a life project with dignity.

The policies promoted in recent years in the Balearic Islands have not been able to stop the spiral. During left-wing governments, the measures were entirely insufficient and did not respond to the speed at which prices and real estate pressure were increasing. Now, with the current right-wing government, some initiatives are already destined to fail or are perceived as cosmetic operations rather than structural responses. And, moreover, they coexist with decisions that understand that building more homes is the main solution, without taking into account that the problem is not just one of quantity, but also, or above all, one of model.

Here, journalism also plays an important role: explaining that, despite the complexity of the problem, there are possible proposals and paths. There is no single solution, but there are concrete measures that can help alleviate the crisis if there is the political will to apply them. In recent weeks, contributions from civil society, economists, jurists, urban planners, and professionals demanding bolder decisions have multiplied. The Círculo de Economía de Menorca has been one of the entities that has made concrete proposals, but it is not the only one. There are also experts who propose fiscal and regulatory changes, limitations on purchases by those who do not intend to reside, minimum usage period obligations, legislative modifications to facilitate affordable housing, incentives to transform hotels or properties for sale into housing, and measures to mobilize empty homes and free up land.

Many of these proposals share a common idea: to reduce the role of housing as an object of investment and speculation in order to reinforce its original social function. That is, to put back at the center the idea that housing should primarily serve to live in.

None of the measures is simple or sufficient on its own. But precisely because there is no single solution, the worst thing would be to continue to remain inactive or to take insufficient measures. As the Menorca Circle of Economy says, “the only thing we cannot do is do nothing”. That is why we propose solutions and ask for courage and commitment from all of society to reduce the pressure that this problem exerts on the lives of almost everyone.