On 25 March we met several young people at the Carmen immobilier agency in Biarritz. The data are worrying, there are more than 20,000 tourist homes for rent a year in the Northern Basque Country, 42,235 second homes and 11,904 vacancies, and in some villages the number of second homes exceeds 40%. Students spent more than 65% of our expenses on housing, although in 2020 11,699 social housing was requested, only 1,223 were distributed.
We welcome the compensatory measure recently adopted, but these new measures do not make housing accessible to young people. Young people have precarious living and working conditions, so we do not have enough money to rent a home in our villages, let alone to buy, and many young people have to leave their villages.
While young people can't afford us, real estate companies continue to speculate. The prices they set can only be taken over by wealthy tourists.
As long as we cannot afford to become emancipated, real estate and sellers continue to speculate. The prices they set can only be taken over by wealthy tourists, and only housing is managed according to the preferences of these tourists: housing rented to tourists during the summer school year, housing that remains empty during the course…
Institutions also hinder emancipation. Although the compensatory measure has just been approved, the data show that the distribution of social housing is much lower than necessary, and it is essential to increase the number of social housing by looking at the economic resources of the young.
For housing to be truly affordable, we need homes that are rented at a lower price all year round. That is why we young people are also involved in the mobilisation organized by the Bizi platform in Baiona on 1 April.