The teachers' casting call for a home in Ibiza: "I have a very good bulldog."

PalmAugust has already begun, and for many teachers with a new assignment in the Pitiusas, the countdown begins to find a place to live, in a context where there are few available homes and at exorbitant prices. Often, professionals (most of them from Mallorca) find themselves offered seasonal rentals that force them to leave their homes in March or April. To find an apartment, many use contacts of other teachers who are in Ibiza and Formentera, or of professionals who are vacating a place and can give it to another. In other cases, many go on the hunt for a room or apartment through Telegram groups like the "Mallorquins ibicencos" (Ibicencos Mallorcans). The apartment search is a constant process throughout the year.

"I've been assigned to Ibiza. I'm looking for an apartment to take with my dog; she's a very good bulldog. If possible, somewhere in the center of Ibiza," reads one of the most recent messages posted in one of the Telegram groups, where users sometimes introduce themselves in detail, as if it were a group. Groups like 'Mallorquins Eivissencs' make sense in a context where, at the time of writing, the cheapest rental property in Ibiza is in Sant Josep de sa Talaia. It has one bedroom and costs 875 euros. The advertisement states that it's a seasonal rental, starting in October, and is intended for teachers. However, teachers start work on September 1st. Therefore, they have a blank month during which they would have to live in hotels, hostels, or shared beds. The second cheapest apartment states that it's for rent for the entire school year. It costs 900 euros and is 50 square meters.

In the Telegram group there are also people who offer rooms in the apartments where they live. The goal is to help teachers who often have little time between learning they will have to move from the island and the day they start, This situation is especially evident in urgent replacement procedures. Temporary workers find out their destination on a Monday, for example, and have a maximum of three calendar days to find a place to live, whether for four days, three weeks, one month, or five months.

A deep-rooted problem

In recent years, in the midst of the housing crisis, there are teachers who have chosen to sleep in their cars, in hotels and hostels, as explained by the ARA BalearesRosa—who asks for a fictitious name—is a teacher and experienced this situation firsthand. She arrived in Ibiza on September 15, 2021, and could no longer find a room she could afford. "I slept in my car for five months, with a mattress placed on top of the reclined seats, and I showered in a sports center," she explains. "I felt tired, alone, and guilty for leaving my family. Plus, I had to stay at school at night so I could prepare for my classes," she continues. It wasn't until February that a friend secretly housed her in an apartment. It wasn't listed on the contract, and she paid 490 euros. She only stayed from Monday to Thursday, because every Friday she left for Mallorca to be with her children (who were very young at the time) and her husband.

Silvia's is another case. She had to cover for a sick leave that was extended from week to week. No one wanted to rent her a room. So for days, he also slept in his car, paid €4 a day to go to the gym and shower, and lived on sandwiches. He asked for prices at hostels with bunk beds, but they were also too expensive. All of this affected his mood. "I was cold and felt sadder every day." To be able to work outside of school, he had a Power Bank, which he used to charge his phone in the car, and he worked at the Santa Eulària library.

Supplements for displaced persons

To try to combat the situation, Educació has introduced hard-to-fill and very hard-to-fill supplements. The very hard-to-fill positions are all those in Formentera, as well as those in Menorca and Ibiza, corresponding to those specialties in which the number of applicants in the temporary employment pool for each position is less than five, or where, once the awarding procedures for temporary civil servant candidates have been announced, they are filled at least 15 days after the announcement.

Starting in September, the monthly supplement for hard-to-fill positions will be €200 in Ibiza and €100 in Menorca. For very hard-to-fill positions, the supplement increases to €400. This year, teachers with very hard-to-fill positions have already received €300 per month in 12 installments.