Javier, one of the organisers of the protest, says that people who cannot find housing are being "persecuted". "We are not crazy people. We have made submissions regarding the new regulations. The deadline closes on May 15, but we have not had any response from Palma town hall."
The protesters are planning a rally in Plaça Cort in front of the town hall building on Saturday morning.
A theme for the protest will be: 'They will not prohibit us from sleeping in a camper'. Javier adds: "My caravan is more than a vehicle; it is my home. And limiting my right to live in it is denying me my dignity."
On Monday, Mayor Jaime Martínez insisted: "You cannot live in a motorhome in Palma because it is undignified, in the same way that last year we said that people couldn't live in containers. We are addressing the root problem."
Martínez accepted that there is a very serious housing problem. "This is because we haven't had housing policies for many years. More than 100,000 people have come to live on the islands. This is why we have reached a critical point."
In criticising the absence of policies, he drew attention to limited reclassification of land and also to initiatives by his party, the Partido Popular, at the town hall and in government.
"A housing decree law has been approved. There are municipal housing policies that are going to be implemented and I am going to launch a series of incentives and aid packages for empty homes to be put on the market. If there are no housing policies, there is no supply and so there is no housing solution."
Álvaro Ortega has been living in a motorhome for seven months. He got divorced and couldn't find anywhere else. He says that he abides by the rules. "I move every 48 hours, I dump the water where it belongs, I don't park on the seafront, I pay my taxes. I don't understand why they can't let me live like this."
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Governments over the years have done nothing to alleviate the shortage of housing for local people. All they have concentrated upon is getting more and more tourists to visit the island, simple greed from the hoteliers have brought about the overcrowded disaster that is modern day Mallorca. It seems to me that in general people either don’t care or are benefiting in some way. Very soon the island will become unsustainable and you have the politicians and greedy hoteliers to blame for it.
Why is it that every thing has to turn into a Battle there should be a reasonable discussion surrounding this topic and try to come up with a plan to make progress not name calling and finger pointing the Great last Government did nothing about this either nothing just went to the Hat bar for drinks 🍺 and let the people fight amongst themselves the situation is far from perfect and we all know there is inadequate space for camper parking and short tem housing is non existent , it’s a tough world out there try to avoid confrontation and work towards solving problems not easy in Mallorca !
The mayor of Palma is going to do 'something at some point' to alleviate the housing crisis. But so far he has delivered ZERO affordable houses. Typical politicians, all talk. It's always easier to attack people who are down rather than actually solve the problem. What's next, jailing homeless people for being homeless?