Palma City Hall has taken measures with the residents of motorhomes. The new municipal ordinance approved this Wednesday prohibits living in these vehicles and will be punishable by fines of up to 1,500 euros. This controversial measure caused fierce reaction from this vulnerable group, whose indignation is currently at its peak.
Maria Angeles has 24 years old and a 6 year old son. He must move forward with the help of the minimum subsistence income. Due to the high price of housing and rent in Palma, she was forced to live in a caravan in Son Güells. Like his neighbors on the street, he does not understand why the municipality wants to make their lives impossible. “We are people with a weak economy, they must understand our situation. In our caravans we have a certain stability but now they want to take it away from us. I don’t understand why.”
This single mother is one of 400 people who live in campervans in Palma. The main reason so many people find themselves in this situation, as he points out, is the number of empty houses what’s in the city. “It is impossible today to pay rent of 800 or 1,000 euros. In Palma the prices are exorbitant. What I’m asking for is a social pension but they don’t give us solutions“.
Those of us who live in camper vans are normal people, children, elderly people, families…”
María Ángeles says that people who live in campervans in different areas of the Balearic capital are workers like any other who should live in a house. “Here, there are normal people, families, elderly people, children who come from school or university…», assures this citizen.
Remember that the new municipal ordinance also prohibits park for more than ten days in the same place. However, this concerned woman explains that living in a campervan no one is disturbed. “We keep everything clean, we relieve ourselves inside the vehicle, we throw the waste where it belongs, we help each other,” explains María Ángeles.
In fact, he states that The inhabitants of Son Güells have never complained due to the presence of motorhomes in the area. The same thing happens in the parking lot of the municipal swimming pools of Son Hugo, in the Son Oliva neighborhood or in Ciudad Jardín, where the presence of these vehicles has not caused any complaints.
Everything seems to indicate that due to the incessant increase in housing prices and rents, the number of these mobile homes will continue to increase in the short and medium term. “It’s a shame that Palma, with what we were, reached what we achieved, because This is the year I see the most people on the street. It’s sad, but real,” says María Ángeles.
After approving the controversial ordinance, the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martinezassured that “each case is different and we will have to see if they camp or not, or if there are uncivil attitudes”. The order has an objective and In Palma, we live in houses, not in caravans“.
It should be mentioned, however, that if the violation is committed by a person situation of social exclusion The actions of the agents will have “a social character” and will be transferred to social services. In this sense, the fines can be suspended if there is a report of social vulnerability.
Recently, the Consell de Mallorca governed by PP and Vox opened the door to motorhomes to have service areas and camp in Palma and throughout the island. This is a measure promoted by Vox in which the island institution is committed to supporting the municipalities that allow these parking lots.
This is a request eagerly awaited by caravanners, that they do not have a space with these characteristics in Mallorca and that they will still have to wait for the municipalities interested in this issue to allow them.
