The Balearic Government promotes the construction of housing on the islands specifically for employees in the tourism sector. This is one of the measures that incorporates the law on urgent measures on housing that the Balearic Parliament approved this Tuesday with the sole support of the PP. Vox, partner of Marga Prohens, has abstained with the argument that the measures are very lukewarm and will help us solve the housing problem on the Islands.
The law allows the change of use of plots intended for tourist purposes so that homes can be built on them, although two conditions must be met. One of them is that the properties are on a coliving basis and, the other, that they are only used for the accommodation of employees of activities related to the tourism sector, whether hotel or complementary offer.
The Balearic Islands have been suffering for years from an escalation in housing prices that is having enormous social consequences, but which has also begun to affect the community’s economy. Entrepreneurs in the tourism sector have been having problems finding seasonal staff for years because for many workers it is unaffordable to pay the prices asked for rentals. Some hotel employers have begun to offer accommodation to their workers to try to combat these difficulties when it comes to finding staff.
The possibility that tourist plots can be used for housing construction is intended to help solve this problem, but the law also includes the option of changing the use of obsolete hotels to be used for housing even if they are located in areas of high density. Hotels. The Government of Marga Prohens defends that these measures can help partially solve the staffing problem in high season, but the approved norm also incorporates measures to try to create housing for residents on the Islands.
The average price of housing in the Balearic Islands has grown by 50% in just five years. The average price is the most expensive in all of Spain, according to the latest data from the College of Registrars. A home has an average price in the Islands of 342,849 euros, almost double the 185,980 euros that it costs on average in Spain and well above communities such as Madrid, 312,722 euros, and the Basque Country, 246,990, the two that follow in the ranking. A citizen of the Balearic Islands must dedicate 54% of his salary to paying the mortgage, according to the same statistics.
In the midst of this situation, the norm approved by the Parliament makes it possible to raise heights in some areas of the cities to create new housing and put an end to sawtooth problems. The standard also gives tools to city councils to allow the division of larger properties and to encourage the conversion of commercial premises into homes.
The law was initially approved as a decree law and the Government of Marga Prohens assures that it has already begun to produce positive results. The Minister of Habitat, Marta Vidal, has explained that the creation of nearly 200 homes is already being approved and proposed in the town councils, with the new figure of limited price housing created by the law.
A total of 20 town councils of the 67 in the Balearic Islands have already approved agreements to regulate the decree’s measures and in another 33 the measures are applied directly since the town councils have not commented.
