“Better ask that woman over there, we work for her.” » The woman there is Eloísa, co-founder of a company that manages several tourist accommodations (VUT) in Madrid. “Especially in the center,” he specifies, without specifying how many he manages. He specifies that one of them is his property.
Eloísa participates in Somos Madrid in the demonstration that Madrid Aloja, an association of vacation rental managers in the capital, called last Wednesday in front of Puerta de Sol, three days after thousands of people took to the streets to demand legislation guaranteeing access to housing. the entity wants to ask the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, to “show common sense”.
This is what its president, Adolfo Merás, says, accusing José Luis Martínez-Almeida of “treason” for his announcement to ban new licenses or increase inspections and fines while the City Council prepares new regulations for these temporary rentals. “Yes regulation, no ban” is precisely one of the slogans of the participants, who display other messages on their banners such as “welcome tourists!! » or “no more social housing, we’re not the problem”. They demand a return to the previous situation, with practically no sanctions or controls, because “that is what Almeida promised us, who always blamed those of Ciudadanos for the obstacles they imposed on us,” says Merás.
“They are creating an artificial struggle between tenants and small owners while the mayor changes the rules for the benefit of his friends and big businesses,” says Manuela. She goes with her husband Ángel to the small demonstration, which barely reaches around a hundred people despite the participation of cleaning, reception or marketing staff from some of these accommodations.
“We create wealth”
This couple, however, claims to only have one SUV and to take care of all the work themselves. They are the prototype that Madrid Aloja wants to illustrate: they opted for this type of housing already in 2006, they registered it in the Community of Madrid even though they do not have the license required by the municipality, they say that ‘they would deal with it if the Town Hall has not announced that it is suspending its concession and is not considering returning to long-term rental “because the new housing law leaves you without protection”. They then specify that they suffered an episode of “concern” before the approval of the new rule, even if the tenant ended up leaving of their own free will.
However, not all profiles conform to one of the most common cries of concentration: “We are not criminals, we are families”. Indeed, while they chant the phrase, a man dressed in a sleeveless vest jokes with a colleague: “Yes, yes, we have two apartments,” he says, laughing. More corporatist profiles, like that of Heloísa, allude to other types of reasons for their indignation: “We create jobs and create wealth. It makes me very sad to see how we are a country that does not champion its entrepreneurial spirit, in which this potential is lost. It is a shame that self-employment is not encouraged. In this sector, a lot of ingenuity and many diverse services have come from young people through their startups“.
The businesswoman also alludes to the fact that the sanctions particularly affect those who “have respected the previous regulations” because “they persecute those who have registered their apartments in the register of the Community of Madrid”. According to Adolfo Merás, “Almeida does not hunt in the jungle, but kills the animals that are in the zoo.”
Eloísa illustrates this complaint by referring to “an acquaintance” who rents his VUT without declaring taxes, without registering it in the regional register and even using a false personal address to escape any control. “It’s a shame that those who do things like this are spared the fines and that all of us who respected what was asked of us before this very unfair change in the rules of the game have to face it,” he said. he declared. said.
Now the mayor says he doesn’t want tourist housing except in entire buildings that are dedicated to that. Where does this leave us, small landowners? It’s a way to benefit your friends, the big forks, the big fish who, as always, eat the little ones.
Large operators and small owners share a series of arguments. Merás assures that “the magnifying glass is focused on these tourist residences, of which there are around 16,000 in Madrid”. [17.500 según la plataforma Inside Airbnb]while we have more than 300,000 empty homes. He also attributes the housing problem to the fact that the demand for housing is increasing exponentially “if we want to be a country that welcomes people with complete freedom and without limits”, referring to immigration.
Almeida’s criticism, on the other hand, has a point close to this class struggle or David against Goliath in which those who delegitimize movements for access to housing do not believe. “Now the mayor says he doesn’t want tourist housing except in entire buildings dedicated to that. Where does this leave us, small landowners? It’s a way of benefiting their friends, the big holders, the big fish who, as always, eat the small ones,” lament Ángel and Manuela. Merás believes that neighborhood coexistence, one of the justifications of the Municipal Executive for betting on tourist blocks, does not pose a problem in the majority of temporary apartments: “We carry out very rigorous controls and surveillance”.
Eloísa, Adolfo, Ángel and Manuela demonstrate enormous conviction in their postulates, but we notice the demonstrators’ lack of experience in this type of action. One of the most repeated proclamations is “Almeida, Ayuso, we are in the struggle”. It doesn’t rhyme, for it to be at least consonant we would have to swap the order of the last names. It is precisely the workers of companies in the sector, migrants like those of whom Adolfo Merás speaks, who are protesting most effusively. Those who make the most noise with their clapping and shouting. And without losing their smile, whispering to each other what they dare not say with a tape recorder in front of them.
