Samantha Mythen
WHEN 22-year-old Málaga student Elena’s parents were her age, they could easily afford to buy an apartment in the city.
Now Elena cannot even afford rental prices, and she continues to live at home with her family, working while she studies to simply afford to live.
“All of my friends are in the same position.”
She was one of hundreds of thousands of people marching across Spain, demanding immediate action on the country’s housing crisis, where residents face soaring rents and a shortage of safe, healthy homes.
It was the third protest the streets of Málaga had witnessed since June last year, the manifestations organised by Málaga Para Vivir.
“We are sending a very clear message for all governments, both municipal, regional, and state, which is that today marks the end of the housing business,” Málaga Para Vivir spokesperson Kiki España said during the march on Saturday.
“In the city, there are 34,466 people registered as housing-seekers, while there are 7,496 tourist accommodations with 32,132 places available. Does anyone think this is sustainable?”
The people of Spain are demanding their government stops treating housing as a business, but rather as a human right.
Architecture student Mario Muñoz said that every year, his landlord raises the rent.
“The only reason the homeowner gives us is that all the other flats are rising the prices so she has to do the same.”
He shares an apartment with four others. To rent alone is completely off the cards.
Average Spanish rent prices have doubled in the past decade, yet salaries are struggling behind to catch up.
Meanwhile, the supply of rentals has halved since the COVID-19 pandemic, and only 120,000 houses are being built each year.
Spain’s public housing makes up less than 2% of all available housing. In comparison, the OECD average is 7%, with 16% public housing available in the United Kingdom.
Gesturing his friends, Muñoz said they were all architecture students with a keen interest in their city’s housing crisis.
“I don’t have a solution but we see places where the problem has been controlled with public housing,” he said.
“The locals interests need to be prioritised over the tourism industry first as it’s pushing people out of their homes.”
Yolanda Greta and Jimena Centurión are two such locals who are suddenly facing homelessness.
They are just two of more than 120 Torremolinos residents being evicted from their rental apartments.
Greta has been in and out of hospital due to a chronic illness, which has accelerated due to the stress of the situation.
“We could be evicted this month, this year, we don’t even know when,” Centurión said.
The developer who originally built the apartment building was forced into liquidation due to unpaid loans. Sareb, a bank half owned by the State, became owner of the apartment.
It was only in August last year, when the building went up for auction, that the residents learned they were going to lose their homes.
“We received a notification from the courts that our rental contracts were not valid,” Centurión said.
Both Greta and Centurión have yet to find new homes to move to.
Engineer Manuel joined Málaga Para Vivir’s first organised protest in June last year. He was at the front of today’s procession, microphone in hand, leading chants for the three kilometre march from Plaza de la Mercad to Parque de Huelin, his voice hoarse by the time they reached their final destination.
In Plaza de la Merced itself, eight out of ten homes are used for tourist accommodation.
When Manuel first moved to Málaga ten years ago, the rental price for one room was €200. The average cost of a room now is around €500-600.
“In the last five years, there’s been an increase of around 45% of the price of living here, and the salaries aren’t increasing to match this,” he said.
“We have a crisis in Málaga. The people that usually live here in the centre of the city have been displaced to the outer limits and other towns, as the cost of housing is very expensive and it’s only increasing.”
Estefanía Ortega Gamboa said he pays €400 for a room in Málaga, yet his salary fails to meet this – just €1000 per month.
A report from Spain’s central bank found nearly 40% of families who live in rentals spend more than 40% of their income on their accommodation.
“Now, in the center of Málaga, you don’t see any local people. Only tourists and the businesses that focus on those tourists,” Manuel said as activities rattled their keychains.
“We have to protest and encourage the institutions to do something for us because the housing crisis is getting worse every day. This is just the beginning of the fight because we have to fight for our rights.”
Leading up to Saturday’s protest, Málaga Para Vivir organised a series of community events to discuss solutions to the housing crisis.
Although they have not proposed specific solutions, the group wants to see the end of Málaga’s “city model,” which they believe has turned the city into a tourist amusement park.
“We can’t continue allowing a few to make money off our lives, to play with our lives as if it were a game,” Málaga Para Vivir spokesperson Beatriz Linares said.
“Housing can never be a commodity, it must be a right that we protect together.”
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