The Pitiusas Islands are a Mediterranean paradise, but being one of their neighbors is not in everyone’s budget. Considering the enormous sums that landlords demand in exchange for an apartment, and even the monthly payments of up to 2,400 euros for a room in a shared house, there are those who have found a strange alternative for living: caravans.

The idea is simple. Rather than staying in a studio or apartment with other roommates, the tenant concentrates his or her life in a small pod on wheels parked in an open field or parking lot. There are those who do this because they have no other option if they want a roof to sleep under. And the person who warned the Ibiza City Council does so for another, very different reason: to leave their homes empty during high season and rent them out to tourists.

In both cases, the reason is the same: Prices are so high that renting a home is impossible… or so tempting that some homeowners rent their own homes and deliberately move into caravans.

“The only option”. “We started looking for a house, but it was crazy seeing what they wanted.” […] “So we started looking at the cost of a second-hand motorhome and found that was the only option we saw for staying.” Ibiza Newspaper— From Mariana Gómez, a woman who came to Ibiza from Colombia to work temporarily in a hotel and came to the conclusion that she had no choice but to give up if she wanted to settle on the island with her partner. “normal” flats… and opt for the caravan.

29 settlements. Yours is not a unique situation, nor is it strange. New Daily and elDiario.es states that there are approximately 29 caravan “settlements” in Ibiza city hall. Those forced to organize their lives in tiny cabins on wheels range from workers in the hotel or supermarket sector to electricians and bakers, undocumented immigrants or temporary workers. The cost of living in Ibiza is high, but the island still offers work options.

Benji, who became a firefighter at Ibiza airport a few months ago, told La Sexta that he too chose to get into such a vehicle after checking the state of the island’s housing market: “The only solution to save some money and finances was to buy a temporary caravan. Now their goal is another Reaching your destination, Granada terminal.

Sa Joveria case. But buying a caravan to live in is only part of the solution. The other part that is just as important is where you will place it. One of the most popular places in Ibiza is Sa Joveria park and ride. Last month Local Police approached the area and found 53 “abandoned” vehicles, including dozens of caravans.

“They are houses”. The City Council soon told the SER channel that its aim was to carry out similar checks in other parts of the city, where “densities of abandoned cars and parked vehicles have been detected”, in order to enforce regulations determining that a car cannot do so. It can be parked in the same location for more than 15 consecutive days without moving.

One of the young people living in the parking lot admitted to Efe in March that many tenants in the caravans had moved after the notice and said, “We will continue to leave. They ordered them to be taken to tow trucks.” The City Council denies that this was an eviction in any case and argues that it acted due to “complaints about poor conditions” in the area, where it claimed more than 5,000 kilos of garbage were removed.

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Optionally, caravan. Not everyone who lives in an RV does this for the same reason. At least that’s what the Ibiza City Council thinks. Mayor Rafael Triguero said recently: New DailyThey say authorities found themselves with neighbors who had their own homes in the city’s residential areas but chose to give them a different use during the high season months, evicting them, renting them irregularly to tourists, and settling in caravans in the meantime.

Another situation faced by the Balearic Council is that of those who rent caravans during the high season and take them to Ibiza to do business. Its offer is aimed at both tourists and campaign workers.

“Events available”. The City Council does not provide further information, but insists there are residents who illegally rent their homes to tourists while they stay in caravans: “There are cases.” The municipal body clarifies that, in any case, it is not within its competence to investigate the matter or, if necessary, impose sanctions. “We know it exists, but we are not investigating it because it is the responsibility of the Insular Council,” they tell elDiario.es.

Not everyone thinks the same way. The Ibiza and Formentera Tenants’ Association and caravan tenants assured the same newspaper that there was no evidence of homeowners renting their homes moving into caravans. The Insular Council is also unaware of the existence of similar cases. Officials acknowledged it was “unacceptable” that a shortage of affordable housing was pushing some of the population to move into caravans.

Picture | Loraine Fromm (Flickr)

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