Living in Ibiza has gone from being difficult to ‘almost impossible’. The price of housing to rent or buy is beyond the reach of an average salary and many workers are forced to live in cars, caravans, substandard housing or sharing a room at the price of gold.
This is the case of the sevillian chef César Nebrera in a BBC documentary about the housing problem on the island and, as a consequence, the shortage of personnel to cover all the jobs that are generated in high season. The cook has been living in his car for three years. “I miss the basic things that make life comfortable, like being able to stay in your own home, cook or even open a drawer and take out some socks. These are the things you miss when you live in a car,” he explains to the British television network.
His green Kia is his home because on his salary he can’t afford anything else. “ So living like this is an alternative. It’s less comfortable, of course, but it allows me to continue staying on the island,” he continues.
Housing prices affect all workers
On the other hand, it is not only chefs, but the entire restaurant and hospitality sector that is feeling the negative impact of housing prices. This situation, in fact, also hit hard the routine of Isabel Maria Perez, a supermarket cashier, and his partner, employed in a five-star hotel. She tells the BBC that they have been forced to move in with Isabel’s mother-in-law. Born in Castilla La Mancha, Isabel is thinking of moving back to her homeland: “The problem in other parts of Spain is that there is not much work. Here there is all the work you want, but there is no place for live,” he explains.
A situation in which many workers on the island find themselves, who park their vehicles, which they use as a home, in deterrent parking lots, areas with little traffic or who even pay 500 euros to park and live in an illegal campsite like the one recently published in Diario de Ibiza.
On the other hand, the BBC also highlights the lack of workers on the island because of this housing shortage. “Last year, the IGC, the representative body of the Civil Guard, claimed that ‘three or four’ of its agents were living in vehicles on the island.” And the fact is that this situation is much more worrying than it seems. As Diario de Ibiza reported, precisely because of the housing situation, units of the Guardia Civil, such as Atestados, have been left with only one agent out of a staff of 13 workers.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.