Mallorca: Balearic housing row over tents and cars
Some people in the Balearic Islands are still living in tents and cars: Socialist deputy Ález Pitaluga demands immediate action on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, at the regional parliament in Palma, Mallorca. Housing minister José Luis Mateo replies that the previous regional government failed to tackle a problem that already existed on its watch. Pitaluga says announcements alone do not put keys in people’s hands.
Rent controls and investment funds
Another Socialist deputy, Marc Pons, accuses the regional government of making housing policy “only for the rich”. He says Mateo lets large investment funds set the rents they want and has failed to use the government’s right to buy properties before other buyers.
Pons says housing decrees will be approved again in Spain’s Congress on Thursday. Mateo calls the move “underhand” because it is being handled by Congress’s standing committee.
Poverty and a planned protest
José María García of Unidas Podemos says the Balearics’ housing problem has become one of the main causes of poverty. In his view, the conservative People’s Party’s policies since 2023 favour people who can already afford a home and those speculating on property, rather than people struggling to find one.
Mateo says he understands why people are angry. But he calls it “extraordinary” and “paradoxical” that some left-wing parties plan to demonstrate on Wednesday and support a strike. He accuses them of protesting against the policies of a government they belong to.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com