So happy to see most of the comments on this topic lately. Been so annoyed by the naive complaining by folks against (mass) tourism, busy roads and not being able to avoid the flat you want. Blame game is so pathetic and hypocritical. Work harder, change career if you have to, create and seize opportunities. Nobody is taking anything away from you….
Charles Dalrymple-ChumleyNothing like a good generalisation. The majority of council estates in the UK are full of good hard working people from my experience (I lived on one for a while). What you described is probably only 10% of it.
Ulla JacksonIn the UK those are called Council estates. Poor quality social housing badly maintained that becomes a ghetto for gangs, drug dealers and miscreants of all types. Eventually Council estates turn into no-go areas for the police and other authorities. If social housing is needed in Mallorca then a re-think is necessary. The UK model failed.
What is the local government doing for the locals? Nothing. What is the Unions doing to demand higher salaries. Nothing. Why don't they spend money to build flats ONLY to be rented to locals, and noone else. It's very quiet in that front, and always has been.
Jules OI completely agree. Most Euro city centres are non-residential owing to businesses not individuals pushing up the cost of rents and capital prices. I lived in the very centre of London for decades and latterly it became only Arabs who could afford to buy property. Local Mallorcians don't seem to understand this and blame tourists and visitors for the fact that they can't afford a penthouse apartment on Paseo Mallorca!
Last time I looked, poorly-paid people couldn't afford to live in the city centre of almost any major city in the world. This is hardly a Mallorca-only issue!
If you're poor it's always someone else's fault. Never yours. Can't get hired? Blame the economy. Can't afford to eat out? Blame high priced eateries. Can't find a home to your standard? Blame tourists and second home owners. Etc... The blame game is the easy way out of complaining why you can't do or buy something. The reality is that all those people you blame are not preventing you from doing business with them. It's just a matter of helping yourself to be able to afford these things. There's money all over Mallorca just waiting to be collected but it ain't making its way to you. You have to find it. Enterprise, cunning, creativity and determination are what will introduce you to the cash. It's there either in the form of self-starting commerce or convincing an employer that their business would greatly benefit from your skills. But the blame game? It's for losers.
Mallorcans. Stop always blaming other people for your problems. It's your own politicians, that you elected, that are are causing these social problems. They are the ones that need to act. Start kicking them in there butts.
Exactly. I agree second homes are a contributing problem, but that's not who the protesters are ultimately targeting. Listen, this is being shifted onto holiday makers because of a previously failed autonomo government who sat in bed with hoteliers, cruise companies, taxi mafias, the green alliance and banked purchase taxes without consideration or investment in the island or to the local population. Who will they shout about after September?
Charles Dalrymple-ChumleyYou shouldn't apply the UKs problems to the rest of the world. A council flat in some countries are like winning a lottery. They are well maintained and certainly not poorly built Nor ghettos with no go area. So in your view they should do nothing to help the locals to get a decent place to live, but rather continue to have housing problems. Because you say it failed in the UK you assume it fails anywhere, well that's a rather narrow attitude, Mr. Dalrymple-Chumley.