The radically opposing positions between the left and right in the Balearics make reaching an agreement on housing an impossibility.
Policies of the Partido Popular government are the complete opposite to those of the PSOE-led coalition from 2015 to 2023. PP spokesperson, Sebastià Sagreras, says those eight years were marked by "inaction that has led us to today's critical situation". PSOE's Mercedes Garrido is dismissive of government initiatives: "All this government is doing is promoting windfalls: more, smaller, and more expensive houses. Treble the bottom line."
The PP have consistently attacked the Francina Armengol administrations over a lack of housing development, and the PP do have a case. During her first term, few new public housing units were started, but in the second term the pace of construction accelerated; there were over 500. Armengol's initiatives included the launch of the Hipoteca Jove (young people's mortgage) and legislation to expropriate empty apartments from major property owners. That yielded sixteen homes.
Armengol would have implemented a rent cap system but was unable to because she lost the 2023 election. Marga Prohens has completely ruled this out. Spanish law allows regional governments to decide if they wish to introduce rent caps or not. The PP argue that rent caps merely lead to properties being taken off the market.
The PP's approach thus far has essentially been one of not spending public funds directly on building government homes but of incentivising developers to undertake schemes which will be beneficial to these developers but also to the many who need affordable housing.
Underpinning this is the concept of limited-price housing. An example of this is a decree recently approved by parliament for the building of some 20,000 apartments in Palma for limited-price sale or rent and for other large municipalities to create an indefinite number of homes. These LPH homes are not the same as the old system of VPO (protected housing) and the prices, though subject to government control as with VPO, will be higher.
Sagreras argues that more housing has been planned in two years than than in the eight years of the Armengol government. Garrido insists that PSOE are calling for rent caps and for urban planning and tourism measures that don't encourage speculation. The housing decree, she maintains, will lead to higher prices, though she doubts there will be any apartments, while PSOE want the 90,000 or so holiday rental accommodation places that are to be reintroduced by the PP to be eliminated. Furthermore, PSOE are demanding measures against 'luxury' housing and a moratorium on the construction of large apartments, something particularly evident in coastal areas.