The Minister of Housing, Territory and Mobility, José Luis Mateo, has claimed that the Govern is committed to "affordable housing," while, as he has criticized, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, "treats the Balearic people as second-class citizens."
With these statements, the member of the autonomous Executive has responded in the Parlament to the PSIB deputy Mercedes Garrido, who accused him of "doing nothing" to address the housing crisis that the archipelago is suffering.
Mateo has insisted that the Govern is "aware" of the residential "drama" and "does not look the other way," reproaching the PSIB that during its previous terms in power it did so, to the point that, if they had acted, "people would be collecting the keys to the apartments they never built."
In addition, he has pointed out that the current Balearic Executive would have "loved" to have the support of the central Government. In this sense, he has criticized that a public portal for affordable rental has been promoted with 800 homes throughout Spain and that none of them are located in the Balearic Islands.
The minister has also explained that the Lloguer Segur program already reaches 103 beneficiaries and has referred to data from real estate portals and property registrars that indicate decreases in housing prices.
For all this, he has reproached the PSIB that during its government term it "abandoned" the citizens of the Balearic Islands in housing matters and has assured that the current Govern is promoting measures to plan more residential supply.
In her turn, the socialist deputy has defended that, after three years of the current Govern's legislature, life is "worse than ever" and that the Balearic people "can no longer live" on the islands due to housing prices that "are not affordable," which forces many people to "exile" or "live in caravans."
Garrido has read in the Chamber four testimonies from citizens with serious difficulties in paying for their housing and has criticized the statements of the PP spokesperson in the Parlament, Sebastià Sagreras, according to which the PP "is concerned" that the Balearic people cannot buy a second home.
In this line, he has emphasized that the problem is not that residents in the Balearic Islands cannot acquire a second home, but that they cannot even access the first one. For this reason, he has reproached the Govern for not having chosen to limit prices by declaring the archipelago as a tense zone.