The Plenary of the City of Palma has initially approved, with the votes in favor of PP and Vox, the new ordinance to promote civic coexistence that, among other aspects, contemplates the prohibition of living in caravans and motorhomes under threat of fines up to 1,500 euros. The ordinance has been rejected by opposition groups (PSIB-PSOE, Més Per Palma and Podemos) that have labeled the measure of “aporophobic” by considering that it persecutes people in vulnerable situations. Around 30 citizens have concentrated at the gates of the City Council to show their rejection of the new regulations and claim decent housing in the city, where they have proliferated in recent years in response.
The new ordinance prohibits the use of vehicles used “as a housing with signs of permanence” in the streets of the city and prohibits spending in this type of car. Those who fail to comply with fines of up to 1,500 euros, an article that, in the opinion of the detractors of the measure, enters into the regulations of the Ministry of Interior and the General Directorate of Traffic. These contemplate in two different sections that the use given to a vehicle cannot be a reason for infraction and that regulations on vehicle limitations “must be objective and non -discriminatory.” The platform of affected by the Mallorca mortgage also wields a judgment of the 1994 Supreme Court in which it is ruled that a motorhome used as a home is considered as such to all purposes and is inviolable. That is, it cannot enter it or make a registry without a court order.
“[La norma] It does not intend to criminalize anyone, simply protect us from criminals, ”said Vox Municipal spokesman Fulgencio Coll. “Do not criminalize poverty. You, the communists and their allies, are the ones who create it, ”added among the screams and boos of a group of citizens who have attended the plenary. The socialist spokesman, Francisco Ducrós, has reproached the members of the government team that tell criminals to those who do not have a home and are convicted to live in a caravan. The spokeswoman for Més Per Palma economics, Neus Truyol, has accused the PP of “giving” the city to international investment. “They put the red carpet to the speculative and tourist business, and instead generate a larger ordeal to the working families of Palma,” he said.
At the gates of the Consistory, about thirty citizens and members of the platform affected by the Mallorca mortgage have gathered. Its president, Ángela Pons, has criticized that the municipal government is not putting in a city in which the landlords “are selective” and no longer file people with children or pets despite having good salaries and fixed contracts. One of the protest attendees, José, a neighbor of Palma, considers that the political leaders “do not give solution to the people who sleep in the streets, families with children, and this will increase the nonsense.”
Begoña, another of those present in the concentration, explained that he lives in a motorhome with his son because they have no alternative despite having monthly income of 2,600 euros. In his last attempt to live in a conventional house, he says, they asked him for a year in advance, in addition to the bond, for a two -room floor in Calvià, a municipality in the southwest of the island near the capital.
The president of the National Autonomous Autocarvanos Platform in Spain has intervened in Plenary to censor the regulations. For Jesús Gallardo, the situation has to be regulated since the municipality does not have a single point that allows its parking lot in conditions such as other cities. He has also accused the government team to treat them as “terrorists” when they have been dedicated by the system to live in these vehicles. “What do we do with families, we throw them into the sea?” He has asked the mayor, Jaime Martínez, of the PP.
Last October, the University of the Balearic Islands presented the results of the first study carried out in Spain on this phenomenon, which in Palma has exploded in the last three years promoted by the increase in real estate market prices. The study conducted surveys in the six motorhome settlements located in the Balearic capital, which showed that the average profile of its inhabitants is that of men of foreign nationality, with work in the services sector and average income of between 1,000 and 1,500 euros to the month. Most have stopped looking for a home because they know they can’t pay it.
Baleares led new and second -hand according to the last statistic of the Tasana Tins It made it the third most expensive autonomous community, according to the Fotocasa portal data. Throughout 2024, the average amounts rose 3.3%.
