- To denounce the increase of dwellings that cease to be inhabited and become tourist apartments, the youth association Alda has rented what until recently was the home of a couple and what is currently offered by the Airbnb platform as tourist housing. They have publicly defended and from there they have launched the campaign for the right to housing.
The Alda Association has rented a tourist home in Baiona for three days to launch from there the campaign for the right to housing. The initiative started this Wednesday morning: From the windows of the house, rented through the Airbnb portal, they hung a banner in which it read: "Live in the village, don't speculate." The aim is to denounce the rise of tourist apartments, which are being relocated.
They haven't chosen the spot randomly. The housing in which it was housed was the housing of a couple, but since then it has been converted into tourist housing and has been rented 40 times through the Airbnb and Booking portals, according to Alda. "Like this, thousands of apartments and houses are no longer homes for their inhabitants and become second houses or furnished tourist accommodations," they have denounced. According to the association, the Commonwealth of Iparralde would have 6000 and 7000 tourist apartments in the vicinity of the Basque Autonomous Community.
Tourist housing reinforces the increase in rent and gentrification processes, which accentuates the housing crisis. In this sense, with the objective of curbing the problem and reversing the situation, Alda proposes to respond to the housing crisis, which is based on five points: limit the rent, guarantee social housing, renew the empty houses, stop the latter and protect the annual rentals.
