Calls for expropriation of flats from large US property owners in the Balearics in response to tariffs

“If the United States has decided to defend its security and autonomy by turning inwards in the commercial sphere, it may be that the time has come for us to show that we can also defend our people,” she said. She called for the expropriation of all flats owned by American “vulture investment funds” in the Balearics – one of which she claims has around 960 rented properties.

Gómez also responded to some of the proposals that came out of the demonstration for the right to housing that took place last Saturday across Spain and which she celebrated as a success. First, she said, “an immediate drop in rental prices, of between 40 and 50 percent”, something that is “absolutely calculated to be the non-speculative price”.

“Approximately, in the free market, at least 50 per cent is being charged over the stipulated prices” in the Ministry of Housing index, so the proposed reduction would also be “absolutely justified”, she argued. Another possible measure mentioned by the Unidas Podemos representative was the repossession of empty homes, which in the Balearics would amount to nearly five hundred in the register of large property owners alone, she said.

In her opinion, the policies implemented by the centre right PP government are supporting “speculative retention” by not providing the tools to expropriate these empty homes. “Who’s to say the same thing won’t happen with these new homes they’re building?” she asked. Gómez has also called for a ban on eviction companies, as she considers that they “take advantage of the social drama by using coercive techniques”, and evictions of families with no alternative housing.

“There are mechanisms to compensate those owners who are unable to collect their rents. So, enough of the crocodile tears,” she said. Finally, the MP again criticised the PP for its criticism of the lack of housing policy during the last legislatures, an argument that “nobody believes”.

“The public housing programme was very strong as long as we had the land. Now there is neither land nor public housing. Prohens (PP Balearic president) is deceiving us and has decided that the entire housing policy would favour large developers and speculators,” she concluded.