The town hall in Puigpunyent wants to declare the municipality a "stressed residential market area", a measure included in Spain's housing legislation that permits control of prices to rent where demand clearly exceeds supply.
Governed by PSOE, the town hall is to ask the Balearic Government to authorise the declaration of a stressed area in Puigpunyent. "We know that the government, led by the Partido Popular, doesn't wish to support the national law. Given this situation, we are asking that municipalities be given the freedom to act."
Mayor Antoni Marí Enseñat says: "The public housing stock is very limited. We have six social housing units managed by Ibavi (the government's housing agency) with room for 16 people. These are insufficient to serve a population of 2,050. The town hall doesn't have suitable land available in the short or medium term."
On December 9, a PSOE parliamentary motion calling for stressed residential areas to be declared in the Balearics was rejected. Carol Marqués of PSOE argued that a rent cap "is a measure that does work when what is wanted is that citizens can be able to access decent housing". Margalida Pocoví of the PP argued against, stating that rent caps are not effective because they remove homes from the market that could be used for rent.
At the end of November, the town hall administration in Esporles, which borders Puigpunyent, announced it had started procedures for a stressed area declaration.