Mallorca housing decrees offer relief, but no fix

Mallorca tenants facing eviction could get a reprieve: Spain’s housing decrees include measures to stop evictions and extend rental contracts. After a parliamentary spokespeople’s meeting in Palma, Mallorca, on Wednesday, 30 September, representatives of MÉS per Mallorca, Més per Menorca and Unidas Podemos welcomed that help. All three warned it would not solve the wider housing problem.

Josep Castells of Més per Menorca said the eviction halt and rental extensions could make an immediate difference, but called the decrees insufficient. Lluís Apesteguia of MÉS per Mallorca said they could ease some people’s hardship for a while without changing the housing market itself.

Apesteguia also criticised Spain’s housing minister, Isabel Rodríguez, for presenting the measures as decrees rather than a bill that parliamentary groups could debate measure by measure. He called for her resignation. He accused Balearic president Marga Prohens of failing to use her housing powers for the benefit of most people.

José María García of Unidas Podemos said he was speaking on behalf of Esquerra Unida de Balears. The measures, he said, fell short of what demonstrators wanted. He urged people to press parties to ratify both decrees. At the next parliamentary sitting on Tuesday, he plans to ask Prohens what she has done to curb rising housing prices.

Topics: Protests · Housing · Tourism · Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com