Mariano Juan, the Consell de Ibiza’s first vice-president, cautioned yesterday during the institution’s plenary session that the new state housing law’s regulation of rent “will not work in Ibiza.” In this regard, he noted that comparable experiences in Berlin, Paris, and Barcelona “failed.”
“This is an older method than walking, and it does not work because goods are only worth what people are willing to pay for them. The fact that a paper states that anything is worth ‘x’ has ramifications, including the creation of an underground economy with cash payments” Juan cautioned, adding that there would also be a decline in housing supply, in his opinion. “I understand that saying all of this is unappealing and does not look good, but this legislation does not work and has these consequences,” he explained, justifying the government team’s rejection to approve a proposal by the PSOE group to declare support for the state housing law.
Mariano Juan also questioned the number of major holders and vulture funds in Ibiza, as required by law to manage rent prices. “There are none here [in Ibiza]. This law will not work here, in Madrid or Barcelona,” the first vice president added, adding that the recipe for resolving the housing crisis must include “updating urban planning [de Vila, Sant Josep y Sant Antoni]” to ensure adequate land for public and private housing developments, as well as “reducing bureaucracy.”
Housing prices in Ibiza are “outrageous”
Vicent Torres, the PSOE’s spokesman, reminded Juan that the PP “paid in dirty money” for the refurbishment of its Madrid headquarters and maintained the Socialist Party’s “commitment” to addressing the housing crisis from a “social, not speculative, perspective.” Torres emphasized that rentals are “sky-high” in Ibiza, forcing “families to make ends meet.”
Torres used one of his remarks to attack PP leaders, particularly the first vice-president and Territory councillor, who voted in favor of halting the eviction of tenants of the Don Pepe apartments and allowed for their rehabilitation. “You should act as a guarantor of legality and petition [via the document in support of the affected people] the Consell to grant them license when the Consell has stated that you cannot. It is a grave reality that disqualifies him from exercising his job as Territory councillor,” Torres said, adding: “We respect the people who signed it, but you should know what you are signing. Correct it or leave your post “‘.
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