The residents of Son Bordoy: "We want decent housing to live in as human beings"

Around twenty residents of Son Bordoy gathered this Monday in front of the Palma City Hall (Cort) to demand "decent housing alternatives" after receiving an eviction order last November. "I've lived here for 28 years, with my children and 11 grandchildren. At the end of November, the Palma Local Police came and told us we had 10 days to leave, but they didn't offer any solution, and the City Hall hasn't spoken to us either. We just want decent housing to live in like human beings," said Ángel Paredes. Paredes explained that 30 years ago he lived in a shack in El Molinar and moved to Son Bordoy because the former mayor of Palma, Joan Fageda, gave them permission to live on land that wasn't zoned for development. But now, the Palma City Council wants to build "nearly 750 homes," according to the Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), and "none for these people, even though the City Hall knows they're there," they denounced. Similarly, PAH spokesperson Àngela Pons criticized the Palma City Council (Cort), saying that if the residents of Son Bordoy were to occupy the building, "the police would be there in a second." To offer a housing alternative to the residents of Son Bordoy, the PAH proposed that the City Council use part of the 2025 budget surplus to purchase prefabricated houses, but, according to Pons, the Palma City Council "has ignored the proposal." "What kind of City Council do we have, violating all human rights day after day?" the platform asked. "What will these families do?" they continued. "And, with the lack of affordable housing to rent or own, if they are forced to occupy, will they send the police through the anti-employment office? Shameless, isn't it?" they emphasized.

Thus, the PAH Mallorca has accused "the Palma government and the regional governments of the Islands, under the power of the right and the far right," of "dedicating themselves to making noise against the central government, to try to cover up their shameful policies by shifting the focus elsewhere," while, in their view, the central government has given regional and local governments tools to alleviate the housing crisis, which, however, "they have refused to implement."

In fact, "instead," they reproached these governments, "they implement policies to favor businesses, while failing to realize that, little by little, with salaries depreciating relative to the price of housing for purchase and rent, the citizens of the Balearic Islands are forced to leave for tourism."

Likewise, the PAH Mallorca has warned that "in matters of human rights there should be no political affiliation, because, regardless of the "Ideology, the first duty to the citizenry, to all citizens, is to ensure the guarantee of international human rights, those established constitutionally, and also those enshrined in the Statute of Autonomy." However, "it is clear that this is not the case for politicians in general, and those from Palma and the Balearic Islands in particular," they concluded.