New housing protection in Ibiza – possible long-term solution for Don Pepe residents

The future VPO (Housing Protection) of the three plots of land in Ibiza that the Govern has just received (two in Sant Josep and one in Vila) could house those affected by the possible eviction of the Don Pepe apartments. Asked yesterday at the exit of a meeting with the heads of Territory in the Consell, the Balearic Minister of Housing, Josep Marí, said that “the important thing is to increase the public housing stock for the current needs”. “If the eviction finally takes place, we must have something to offer, and we currently don’t, this is the great drama of Ibiza”, lamented the former mayor of Sant Josep in relation to the lack of subsidised housing.

Along these lines, the councillor admitted that the homes for which temporary occupation proceedings have already begun, the use of which is expropriated from large owners (six homes in total), “is not enough either in number or in time” to cover the island’s housing problems. “Moreover, the VPOs to be built in Vila and Sant Josep have a long term horizon, the project must be drawn up and built,” added Marí. Therefore, it is not an immediate solution for the Don Pepe issue. Marí implied that other avenues should be explored in the short term. On other occasions he has shown himself to be in favour of granting aid to those affected, a measure which for the moment has not been developed.