Rocío Tirante had been living in Malaga for 37 years when she attended the demonstration in June that mixed criticism of the housing situation and the tourist invasion, which in recent years have gone hand in hand. A few weeks later, she found that this wave was also sweeping her away due to the effect of a shock wave: “They kicked out my landlords, who were renting a house, and I had to leave so they could come back home.” yours.” The testimonies of exile from your city, of the impossibility of finding a decent apartment to do so, have occurred this Saturday in Malaga, Cadiz and Seville, where more than 70,000 people (according to the organizers) have taken to the streets to denounce what what’s happening
“I work hard to pay a living,” has been chanted in Malaga, while in Seville it has been said that “greed breaks the neighborhood.” The criticism that the economic commitment to tourism has complicated the real estate market to the limit has been very present in very heterogeneous protests, supported by dozens of groups that put more or less emphasis on the tourism factor but with a common thread: the Rent prices are driving residents out of their neighborhoods. And now about buying a home, we don’t even talk about it.
Málaga para Vivir estimates that it has brought together more than 30,000 people (10,000 according to the Government Subdelegation) and that the demonstration has been even more successful than the one in June. Sevilla para Vivir has raised the figure to 35,000, while Cádiz Resiste points out that there have been 4,000 attendees, to which we should add those who came out in the municipalities of La Línea de la Concepción and Tarifa. The analysis is the same and quite simple: the situation is unsustainable.
As an example, that of Amalia Vahí, from the Triana Norte neighborhood association, who said that four families who had been living there for decades have left a block in the neighborhood in a short time because their rent has doubled. Or the story of Alejandro in Malaga, who lives in a house with 15 people and who pays 350 euros for the room, “and it is the cheapest you can find because the landlady is a conscious person, in fact she is demonstrating here too.”
Exile from the neighborhood
In the capital of Seville, more than 60 organizations have responded to the Seville to Live call, each one taking charge on one issue or another, which has translated into a proliferation of protest manifestos. Social entities, environments, unions and left-wing parties have been present at an event in which one of the spokespersons for the convening platform, Nerea de Tena (from Hazando Barrio Macarena) has denounced that “the neighbors have to leave their own neighborhoods.” For this reason, he has demanded that state law be applied “to declare stressed areas and set a limit on rental prices.”
Because the effect is expansive, as exemplified by the case of Rocío Tirante: she had to leave so that her landlords could return home. And why did they have to leave? “Well, in theory because his landlord’s son couldn’t find a house to live in,” a domino effect that even having a payroll doesn’t free you from. “My salary is decent but of course, to continue in Malaga I would probably have 400 euros to live on for the month.”
Demand for solutions
Rocío was born and has lived her entire life in the Costa del Sol capital, but now she lives in Torre del Mar and because she can telework. Of course, at the cost of leaving their surroundings behind and complicating their personal lives, “I am a member of Málaga and Unicaja and I have to plan and make maneuvers every time I come here.”
In Seville the demonstration has been very heterogeneous, with a lot of young presence with left-wing discourse that has not even saved the central Executive by shouting “Progressive government, accomplice of the rentiers. The truce is over, we want it allread the banner of the Seville Housing Movement, which brings together entities such as Barrios Hartos, Apdha or the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH). In general, there has been a call to all administrations to come up with realistic and effective solutions
“Being a landlord is not a profession”, “SOS, neighbors in extinction”, “Our rent, your little payment” or “Houses to live in” have been some of the slogans that have been launched, mixing the problem of housing with of the tourist flats. And Málaga (12,345), Seville (9,745) and Cádiz (2,310) add up to more than 24,000 homes that are intended for tourists, which in practice would be a municipality of considerable size.
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