The Civil Society Forum proposes to build 40,000 public housing units in the Balearic Islands by 2040

PalmThe secretary of the 'Civil Society Forum for the reconstruction of the Balearic Islands', David Abril, presented this Tuesday in the Congress of Deputies a document with more than one hundred measures to face the housing access crisis in the Balearic archipelago, among which includes expanding the public housing stock by 10% by 2040, which would imply building about 2,600 houses annually.

In his appearance before the Mixed Commission (Congress-Senate) on Insularity, the forum representative proposed that 40,000 dwellings should be built in the Balearic Islands by the year 2040. The data presented by the platform states that one-third of the Balearic housing stock is not dedicated to habitual residence. Furthermore, "15 out of the 53 municipalities on the islands have more tourist use dwellings than residential ones," assured David Abril in his diagnosis.

Another striking fact is that the Balearic Islands have "the highest percentage of rental housing in the State," more than 40%. Additionally, considering the increase in prices and the precariousness of salaries, young people in the Balearic Islands would have to assume "33 years of integrated salary, just to pay the down payment for a house," assured Abril. Thus, the document proposes to "decommodify housing" and promote a different model, moving from public-private collaboration to public-social, and allowing new actors to enter, such as cooperatives, which are "outside the logic of the housing market," he stated. This is why his proposal focuses, among other issues, on expanding the archipelago's housing stock and creating a municipal housing bank under a rental regime, either by building new houses, through the purchase of entire buildings, promoting changes of use --from tourist to residential-- or the conversion of obsolete hotels into affordable housing. This last possibility, stated the forum secretary, was approved and agreed upon with the sector's employers' associations, but today there is no project underway to transform obsolete hotel complexes into dwellings.

Furthermore, Abril has emphasized the need for the government of Marga Prohens to "comply with the law" on housing, specifically regarding the declaration of tense areas.

A lucrative business

"Housing policies are needed at all levels," stated Abril, who highlighted the need for cooperation among all public administrations to alleviate the problem of housing access in Balearics, which is "the problem" of the community and "of the entire country," according to Europa Press. In this regard, the attendees recalled that "a political problem cannot be reduced to a simple matter of market, supply and demand." Thus, they stressed that "it cannot be ignored that housing has become a real nightmare for inhabitants and a very lucrative business for some."

In fact, they provided data on the concentration of housing ownership in the archipelago, which is "the seventh autonomous community in terms of large holders." Specifically, about 7,000 homes in the housing stock are held by owners who "have between 25 and 100 houses" and about 12,000 are owned by "owners who have between 10 and 25" houses. Furthermore, Abril focused, "in terms of gender," on an additional problem to the housing access crisis, which is that of battered women, unable to leave the home they share with their abuser because they cannot afford rent.