"For three years I've been trying to register my daughter": the battle of families in caravans for basic rights in Palma

PalmOne night like any other, Ariadna tucks her daughter into bed inside her home, a caravan. Every evening she faces the same uncertainty: how long can she live like this; when will the Administration recognize her right to officially exist where she lives? The girl is six years old and has been trying to register her address at her home for three years. Without success.

Her story is not an exception, but a reflection of a growing reality as housing becomes more inaccessible. Buying an apartment in Palma is increasingly a luxury, and renting, an extremely complicated obstacle course (abusive contracts, overcrowded conditions...). Faced with this scenario, living in a caravan has become a way out for many people seeking autonomy and stability. But this alternative, far from being a complete solution, hits a bureaucratic wall: the Palma City Council denies registration to those living in caravans, according to caravan dwellers, citizen organizations, and political parties.

Ariadna remembers how it all began in late 2023, when she tried to regularize her situation. The institutional journey quickly turned into a labyrinth. "It was like a "pinballgame," she explains. Social Services referred her to the City Council, and there began a journey of comings and goings without a response. "I have only encountered outright refusals and bad manners," she says. She has taken the case to the Ombudsman for Citizens, the Ombudsman, and the Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), who are demanding a solution from the City Council, still without a response.

To be able to enroll the daughter in school, Ariadna turned to her ex-partner, with whom she shares joint custody. Only this way, the girl can access essential services, such as access to public healthcare. She knows she is lucky. Before leaving the apartment where she lived, she renewed all her documentation and, as long as it remains valid, she will be able to use it. Even so, there are certain procedures for which she needs the registration and cannot do them, such as applying for aid like the minimum vital income, obtaining the resident discount, accessing certain social services, or fully exercising administrative rights. She also cannot access tax deductions for taking care of her daughter, as is customary and as provided for in the IRPF regulations through the minimum for descendants.The Administration "plays the long game"

Ariadna is aware that the battle against the Administration is long and, therefore, many people give up. She says that the Administration "plays at attrition" and at "passing the buck", but affirms that she will not leave the attempt halfway. According to her, the City Council "uses the part of the law that interests them and ignores the one that doesn't".

The regulation to which Ariadna refers is the resolution of February 17, 2020, from the Presidency of the National Institute of Statistics and the General Directorate of Autonomous and Local Cooperation. It is here where it is established that substandard housing, such as caravans, or any place where the person actually resides, must be accepted as a domicile. In fact, this is the same law with which the City Council has recently justified the implementation of the protocol to cancel registrations."Crusade against registrations"

The spokesperson for the PAH, Ángela Pons, assures that the City Council is immersed in a "crusade against registrations". "We are certain that they deny registrations to caravan dwellers, because we have accompanied people to the Citizen Attention Offices (OAC) and they have been rejected," she states.

The Defender of Citizenship, Anna Moilanen, recalls that the municipal register is neither a benefit nor social assistance, but a record that proves effective residence. In this regard, she emphasizes that the only requirement is to have habitual residence in the city. She warns that, if the City Council does not facilitate people being able to register at a fictitious address – a common practice in the case of homeless people –, it may push these people to register fraudulently or, even, open the door to situations of abuse, such as charging for facilitating a registration.

Regarding caravans, he explains that they can be registered if they are parked in a fixed location or within a plot of land. Otherwise, he reiterates that the solution is simple: register the people at a fictitious address, such as that of a municipal building.

Artificial situations

In line with Moilanen, lawyer Gloria Olmos, also a member of the PAH, says that, in order to register, the regulations require "proof of domicile within the municipal area" and that informal dwellings, such as a tent, a caravan, a shack, or even a cave, are also considered as domicile. She explains that the City Council does not give "any formal resolution" to caravan dwellers and forces those who apply for registration to do so "through an NGO", which creates artificial situations. Olmos explains that the problem lies in the fact that this relationship between the NGO and the caravan dweller "does not really exist", as they are not real users, because they are not people in a situation of special vulnerability or exclusion. She explains that the caravan dweller has "a one-off contact with the entity to obtain registration and then they stop having it".In this context, when the City Council, following the protocol activated in July 2025, requests the list of people who have not had contact with the NGO in recent months to carry out the deregistration, the measure reaches all these users, as they are not regular users because they do not have the need, points out the lawyer. "Not only are they not registered, but deregistration also occurs systematically," assures Olmos.

"Mass deregistration by oficio"

Since the beginning of the term, the City Council governed by the PP has promoted a policy of "massive cancellations of the census ex officio", as criticized by the PSOE of Palma and corroborated by the Defender of the Citizenry. According to census data, these cancellations have affected 14,893 people between 2024 and the first two months of 2026. The figure represents an increase of 66% compared to the years 2021 and 2022. In 2024, cancellations almost tripled compared to 2023 and almost doubled compared to 2022. As for 2026, the number of census cancellations in just two months is already close to half of all cancellations registered during 2023.

The controversy has intensified because it concerns a matter that affects basic rights and, especially, after the initial explanations of the councilor for Social Services, Lourdes Roca, were questioned. Initially, she attributed the origin of the lists of vulnerable people to the Red Cross, but, subsequently, the same City Council admitted that the request had originated from municipal services, contradicting Roca's first version. "On September 18, 2025, the Red Cross sent, at the request of the technicians of the municipal Social Services, a revision of the list of people in a situation of vulnerability registered in a fictitious address," explained Cort in a press release.

"In Palma, people live in housing"

This conflict is added to a recent precedent: the City Council wanted to fine people living in motorhomes up to 1,500 euros. The regulation, which was initially approved, was withdrawn after the indignation of the caravanner community and social and political pressure. The mayor, Jaime Martínez, then summarized his position with a controversial phrase: "In Palma, people live in houses, not in motorhomes".

Regarding the massive cancellations from the registry, Moilanen assures that he is waiting to clarify what is happening. He has requested explanations and reports to be able to analyze them and draw conclusions, since, as he states, there are aspects that "do not add up", especially in a context in which the population continues to increase.

Furthermore, he insists that the register cannot be conditioned or subjected to assessments of social exclusion or residency, because that would generate legal uncertainty and unequal treatment. "I would like to think that it is a technical matter to facilitate the work of the population department," he points out.

Moilanen also warns that, if a municipality introduces conditions for accessing the register, it could incur a violation of the Spanish Constitution. Specifically, he recalls that Article 10.3 establishes that the public administration must objectively serve the general interests and act with full submission to the law and to justice.

"He is thought to be the king of Palma"

The also caravanner Javier González explains that he started the procedures to register two years ago. He shows himself visibly annoyed: "What happens is that Jaime Martínez thinks he is the king of Palma and that he is not governed by Spanish law, but he is failing an obligation." "He interprets the law to his liking and, meanwhile, I cannot access services, I cannot access anything," he laments. According to his complaint, the mayor of Palma "does not want people with few resources, only millionaires".

In the case of Lorenzo (fictitious name), the procedure is in full legal process. He applied for registration and, for three months – the established period –, he received no response from the City Council. The answerarrived one day after the deadline had passed. With the support of the PAH, he has appealed against the decision, alleging positive administrative silence, which establishes that the lack of response within the deadline is equivalent to the approval of the request.

"Fraudulent registrations"

Vox Palma justifies and endorses the City Council's decision to request lists to carry out de-registrations. Its position in the fight against "fraudulent registrations" is forceful, according to the party's leader in Palma, Fulgencio Coll. The party had already promoted initiatives to "avoid fraudulent registrations" in April 2025 and May 2024. "We give our support to councilwoman Lourdes Roca and to scrupulous control of registrations," Coll stated.

In contrast, the spokesperson for MÉS per Palma, Neus Truyol, recalls that the City Council has the legal obligation to register residents and that failure to do so constitutes non-compliance with regulations. "To this must be added the unilateral de-registration promoted by councilwoman Lourdes Roca, for which a third-sector entity was initially held responsible," she points out. For the eco-sovereignist, the PP "has fully assumed the aporophobic message and the attack on the most vulnerable groups" from Vox.

"Criminalization of poverty"

The spokesperson for Podem Palma, Lucía Muñoz, maintains that there is a "political order not to register people living in caravans." Muñoz is highly critical of Vox, because she considers that the party treats registration "as if it were a scam," when, in reality, it is the gateway to basic rights. She also reproaches the PP for having assumed Vox's "discourse of criminalizing poverty" and denounces that "there is a competition between the PP and Vox to see who is more racist."

The socialist spokesperson, councilor Daniel Oliveira, has criticized that the mayor and his government team "carry out massive de-registrations ex officio, up to 15,000 in two years." "Furthermore, and for the first time, they have requested lists of people in a situation of social emergency to de-register them, an unprecedented fact," he pointed out. All this coincides with "the numerous complaints from people living in caravans who have great difficulty accessing the registry," he stressed. According to Oliveira's complaint, "the City Council says they are vulnerable people, but that is not the case for everyone: there are working people who discovered they were not registered when they went to the doctor and were told they did not have a health card."