Palma homelessness row over 230 register removals
Around 180 people face eviction from Son Bordoy in Palma, while MÉS per Palma says the city council has removed 230 homeless people from its municipal residents register. The party is demanding that the eviction is halted until those affected have somewhere to live.
MÉS made the claims on 14 September as it set out 13 measures for the next Palma City Council plenary meeting. Its mayoral candidate, David Pujol, said homelessness would not vanish by forcing people from a building, taking them off the register or stopping them sleeping in certain places.
The party said the council had asked the Red Cross for information about people it had not been in contact with for six months. Pujol said removing people from the register after they had already lost their homes amounted to punishing poverty rather than tackling it.
MÉS calls for shelters, washing facilities and safe storage
The party wants Palma to adopt a municipal strategy to prevent and end homelessness, with a budget, timetable and measurable targets. It says the plan should use the findings of a count due to be prepared by the University of the Balearic Islands and EAPN at the end of September.
Councillor Miquel Àngel Contreras said the package includes more accommodation places, hygiene spaces with showers and laundry facilities, and secure places to keep belongings. MÉS also wants climate shelters open 24 hours a day and a permanent homelessness forum.
More people need help, MÉS says
Contreras said the Red Cross supported 1,125 people in permanent homelessness in 2025, up 20% on the previous year. A further 2,690 people needed some form of assistance, he said.
He also pointed to the former prison, where Palma City Council counted 226 residents. MÉS said many of them are now sleeping on the beach, near GESA or in Bellver forest. The party says the Son Bordoy eviction should not go ahead until housing is available for the roughly 180 people affected.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com