The story of theSon Banya shanty town can be traced back to a Palma town hall initiative of 1969. With the assistance of the church, a place was to be found for gypsy families who were living in inhumane conditions in certain parts of the city - El Molinar was one of these.
Son Banya became home to some 600 people. There were 124 dwellings. The idea was that they would be temporary. The gypsies would be integrated into society. Social housing would be created for them. The plan was for the shanties to be eliminated by 1980 as there would no longer be any need for them. The plan was a failure.
Despite recent efforts at elimination, Son Banya remains. A permanent settlement for people at the margins of society, one thing that can be said for it is that it at least does provide some housing security, and not everyone in Son Banya is active in the drugs trade.
Such security doesn't exist elsewhere. If Son Banya has a semblance of ordered urbanisation, other shanty settlements are ad hoc. Nothing like Son Banya or indeed the El Hoyo shanty town, there is one - under the motorway bridge that passes over the Sa Riera Park - that has existed for around ten years.
A 'shanty' in the Paseo Marítimo roadworks has been dismantled. Photo: Teresa Ayuga.
The town hall occasionally takes action in removing the shanties that have proliferated in recent years - a ten per cent increase over the past four years, or so it is reckoned. A single shanty, sited in the roadworks on the Paseo Marítimo, has been dismantled. The Romanian occupant declined the offer of a place in a hostel. The Balearic Ports Authority says that he plans to take a ferry and leave the island.
But dismantling doesn't solve the underlying problems. It is estimated that there are around 1,100 homeless people in the city, the great majority of them not being native Mallorcans. From mainland Spain or from other countries, they came to Mallorca in search of opportunity. They ended up on the streets.
There are various reasons to explain their situation, one being an impossibility of accessing housing. In the Arxiduc-Son Oliva district, there is what might be said to be a stark manifestation of this - two vacant lots, one with shanties, the other with a promotion for homes costing more than half a million euros.
More than fifty years ago, they spoke about social housing for the gypsies of Son Banya. They are still speaking, the need having become that much greater and certainly not confined to one profile of society.
Richard PearsonWell it was easy for your hero Franco to build millions of homes when he basically had slave labour, the workers had zero rights and there was zero health and safety.
Not really a good comparison.
Zoltan TeglasAgain, I agree, but seeing you mentioned it, the “left” have usually been considered and brag that they are the party of “the people”, eg the workers.
The right aren’t and don’t.
So please don’t blame them for not doing something they never promised to do in the first place.
You want numbers ?
In between 1961 and 1975 (we all know who was in power then) apart from a multitude of hospitals, schools, public buildings etc, nearly 4,5 million subsidized homes were built. This was achieved with zero financing from the EU.
In between 1981 and 2022 (we all know who was generally in power then) only a little over 2 million, were built, whilst at the same time squandering, to be polite, countless billions of German and British taxpayers hard earned money.
Of course, very few of this weekend’s protestors know anything about this, and if they did, probably think that it’s their God given right to have had the money thrown at them by the very same people they are now complaining about filling up the roads that they, or their parents, had paid for in the first place.
Ungrateful sods.
Richard PearsonIt's not a case of right or left - all of them are equally useless in this regard.
And if you want to make it political, how many affordable homes has the right wing Balearic government and right wing Palma council built, or at least started ?
ZERO !
There’s Mallorca’s problem in a nutshell.
Ineffective, incompetent and very definitely corrupted government!
Not the tourists, or gypsies, or poorly paid workers!
9 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Zoltan Teglas😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Richard PearsonWell it was easy for your hero Franco to build millions of homes when he basically had slave labour, the workers had zero rights and there was zero health and safety. Not really a good comparison.
Bryan AdamsYou must be on crack if you think I read that **** rag.
Zoltan TeglasAgain, I agree, but seeing you mentioned it, the “left” have usually been considered and brag that they are the party of “the people”, eg the workers. The right aren’t and don’t. So please don’t blame them for not doing something they never promised to do in the first place. You want numbers ? In between 1961 and 1975 (we all know who was in power then) apart from a multitude of hospitals, schools, public buildings etc, nearly 4,5 million subsidized homes were built. This was achieved with zero financing from the EU. In between 1981 and 2022 (we all know who was generally in power then) only a little over 2 million, were built, whilst at the same time squandering, to be polite, countless billions of German and British taxpayers hard earned money. Of course, very few of this weekend’s protestors know anything about this, and if they did, probably think that it’s their God given right to have had the money thrown at them by the very same people they are now complaining about filling up the roads that they, or their parents, had paid for in the first place. Ungrateful sods.
Zoltan TeglasAnother Daily Mail zombie
Richard PearsonIt's not a case of right or left - all of them are equally useless in this regard. And if you want to make it political, how many affordable homes has the right wing Balearic government and right wing Palma council built, or at least started ? ZERO !
Zoltan TeglasI agree, the PSOE should be thoroughly ashamed with their lack of interest regarding this matter.
There’s Mallorca’s problem in a nutshell. Ineffective, incompetent and very definitely corrupted government! Not the tourists, or gypsies, or poorly paid workers!
Talk is all they do. There is no excuse for the government/council not to build social housing. Get on with it now!