last June in a massive demonstration that was replicated this Saturday not only in the capital of the Costa del Sol, but also in Andalusia. The residents of both cities have marched en masse to demand that the administrations guarantee the right to access to housing and stop speculation for which they blame, although not only, the proliferation of tourist apartments that affect the reduction in the supply of apartments. residential areas and expel citizens from the center, with the consequent impact on the disappearance of local commerce and the deterioration of social services.
“The neighborhoods are enduring unsustainable pressure,” explained Nerea de Tena, a member of the Macarena Hazando Barrio Neighborhood Association—one of the organizations promoting the platform that organized the march—shortly after noon and which ran throughout lasting more than two hours from the headquarters of the Government of the Junta de Andalucía, the San Telmo palace, to the central and very touristy Plaza de Las Setas, where the 3,000 Protesters, according to data provided by the Government Subdelegation, have literally expelled all the visitors who were taking photos on the stairs. “We demand the right to access to decent housing, that all administrations adopt measures to stop the rise in rental prices and the proliferation of housing for tourist use,” he added.
A claim similar to the one made 210 kilometers away in Malaga. There, the protest day has traveled through the main streets of its historic center under a significant police presence and a wonderful autumn temperature that was around 20 degrees and which has brought together 10,000 protesters, according to data from the Government Subdelegation. The march started after 11:30 a.m. from the Plaza de la Merced to end about three hours later in the Plaza de la Constitución, where those responsible for Málaga para Vivir read a manifesto. “We claim the right to housing. In this city, now, for any space they are charging you 600 euros. Right now, thinking about buying an apartment is a utopia, a fantasy for young people,” stressed Natalia Rodríguez, 33 years old and a shop assistant. You don’t play with housing, For rent, abstain from Malagas, Paco, I’m telling you, I’m going to occupy your apartment. o Neither owner nor tenant, stuck in mom’s house, have been some of the signs and chants that have been seen and heard during the march.
The one in Malaga is the second demonstration to be held in the last five months. The previous one, which took place on June 29, brought together 15,000 people. “It is a protest against the tourism model that is expelling people from the neighborhoods and is turning the city into an unlivable place,” explained this week Alejandro Aceituno, one of the spokespersons for Málaga para Vivir, who at the meetings, The neighbors take the megaphone to tell their circumstances and the many problems they have in common regarding access to housing. The majority blame the tourist apartments, which alone in the capital of Malaga already exceed 13,000, a figure that reaches 68,000 throughout the province.
“We are privileged.” This is the reflection that Ignacio Giraldo and Ignacio Cayetano made at the Seville march, both 26 years old and who pay 300 euros for a room in the Triana neighborhood, which they share with another colleague who pays the same for another similar room. “Our landlady has not raised our rent and that is something exceptional,” they agree. Both allocate 40% of the salary they earn to pay for their respective room. “We didn’t even consider looking for other options, because everything is much more expensive,” they point out, while giving way to a group of tourists equipped with headphones who follow their guide who leads them with raised umbrellas.
Triana is one of the neighborhoods in Seville most affected by tourism and where the rental price has increased the most, which last July stood at 12.4 euros per square meter, 6.6% more than the same period. in 2023, according to the study published by Fotocasa in the summer of this year. Enriqueta and Ana also live in that neighborhood, two “grandmothers” aged 66 and 65 who hold up a banner with the motto: “Defend your neighborhood, your grandmothers did it for you.” “We are here to defend our neighborhood. Media Triana is full of tourist apartments and most of them clandestine,” says the first. “The only thing you hear is the noise of suitcases. In the food plaza, all the stalls have been transformed for tourism and we refuse to buy in supermarkets,” adds the second.
Triana is the neighborhood in Seville where rental prices have increased the most. In the capital of Andalusia, the average increase is 10.4%, according to the Fotocasa study, but it is not where it grows the most: Andalusia, with an increase of 11.3% and is the seventh capital in Spain with rentals higher. Nazaret González, who at 23 years old works as an administrator, and her partner, Laura Azcona, 25, suffer the consequences of these prohibitive prices combined with the lack of housing supply. They have had to go live in Pizarra, 50 kilometers from the capital of Malaga because it has been the only one where they have found a home at a decent price. “And even so we have to dedicate a little more than half of our salary,” say these young women, who participated in the demonstration this Saturday.
Antonio, a 40-year-old civil servant, and Beatriz, 36, who is preparing for competitive exams and is paying for unemployment benefits, cannot even consider, at the moment, purchasing a home in Seville due to the high prices in the center, which is where they would like to live. They have attended the demonstration in Seville “to vindicate our situation, but also that of the rest.” They allocate 40% of their salary to rent a two-bedroom house “and a tiny living room” in Triana, where they live with their baby. “We are looking to buy, but we would need government approval and it would also have to be outside of Seville or in areas like Carretera de Carmona [fuera del centro histórico de la ciudad]”, they say.
Pressure moves to the periphery
There, for two years, José María Castro, a 39-year-old engineer, has lived in an apartment owned by him, who is also in the march “in solidarity with many of my friends who cannot afford to buy anything and who can barely rent.” , he explains. They illustrate the “overexertion” to face the cost of renting a home in households with lower incomes, to which the latest report on the rental market of the Bank of Spain alluded and which located this problem in those made up of young people, and in areas where economic and tourist activity is concentrated.
The pressure of the lack of housing and the increase in the cost of what is available, like a domino effect, is being felt on the outskirts of the Andalusian capital. Residents of Dos Hermanas, a municipality, 40 minutes from the city, have also moved there. city of Seville, and which has benefited from its proximity with a broad promotion of homes bought by Sevillians who see quality housing there and at much more affordable prices than those in the capital. Affordable prices, but not that much. “Demand has also made housing in Dos Hermanas more expensive, rent has gone from 300 euros 10 years ago to 600 euros and there are more and more tourists staying here,” warns José Manuel Mejía, a Nazarene student. 25 years old and one of the most active in shouting slogans in the Sevillian march. “This affects young people who want to be emancipated from their parents,” he adds.
Housing has become a problem, and municipal governments are trying to curb the problems arising from tourism. In recent weeks, the Malaga City Council has promoted several measures to limit tourist apartments. The first was to prohibit new licenses for those accommodations that do not have an independent entrance or are part of a block where all the apartments are vacation rentals. The second, most recent, approved just a few days ago by the local Government Board, has been to not allow more tourist properties in 43 neighborhoods of the city, precisely those that are most saturated and whose percentage of housing for tourism exceeds 8% compared to to the total park. The third, more radical, directly seeks to prohibit all new housing. It is an idea launched by the mayor, Francisco de la Torre, who has asked the Urban Planning Department to study the formula that makes this possible.
establishing the limit at 10% of the residential housing market. This percentage prevents the opening of this type of apartment in 11 of the 14 neighborhoods that make up the historic center and in Triana, but leaves room for the installation of 22,705 tourist accommodations in the rest of the city. However, those limits are not being met. Amaya Vahí, president of the Triana Norte Neighborhood Association, warned in advance of the opening of several tourist apartments in recent weeks, which the PSOE has estimated at 16 new licenses.
