The Dutch entrepreneur’s proposal Hans van de Rakt to convert a cruise ship into a residence to house some 500 workers to address poor housing conditions in Ibiza has already attracted criticism: the Consell has stated that to authorize this proposal would be to legitimize substandard housing. Govern have disassociated themselves from the subject; and Caeb has stated that it is “not viable at all”.
Sources of the Consell de Ibiza have confirmed to La Voz de Ibiza that “there is no record of any request” so far. In any case, they have clarified that “our competence in terms of territory affects the land and, in any case, perhaps who would have to authorize this is the Port Authority”.
However, they have made their position clear by explaining that “.our opinion on the housing issue is not, as we have said on more than one occasion, to legitimize substandard housing as housing in use. (this may be the case of boat cabins, such as caravans or tents), but to develop the mechanisms provided for in Decree 6/2023 on urgent measures for access to housing, which provide for actions such as housing at limited prices, the build-to-rent or the authorization for tourism businessmen to build facilities to accommodate seasonal workers on land for tourism use”.
For its part, the Government has also distanced itself from the issue. At the request of La Voz de IbizaThey explained that “the APB should be consulted as to the type of authorization for the uses and activities of the port, in accordance with the regulations that govern it. We have not received any proposal nor do we have any information about this alleged project”.
In addition, they have remarked that the Govern is applying different “measures and programs to respond to the problem of access to housing. The priority is to increase the supply of housing at affordable prices“.
“The Law on urgent housing measures for the creation of housing at a limited price, the change of use and development of land with qualifications that allow the use of tourist accommodation or the program is already underway. Construir per Llogar of ceding public land to private initiative to build more subsidized housing,” they said to counteract the company’s striking proposal. Business Hippie Club.
Nothing feasible
The vice president of the Caeb, the Ibizan José Antonio Roselló, has been categorical in stating that “it is not viable at all in that a port is not a permanent mooring of boats but would need an authorization to be permanently there.
Although he recognized that it is an “imaginative proposal“, he went ahead that “the authorities will probably not give” the authorization “especially taking into account the need to have marshes and moorings for the activity itself”.
“It’s fine as an idea and to gain focus for a few days but it will not be viable. The ports are for something else, not to be used as hotels, apartments, apartments or houses,” Roselló told La Voz de Ibiza.
Finally, he said that “assuming that this were viable, this would be a small patch to this immense problem we have, which is housing. It will not solve it. And it could create more than one logistical problem in the ports”.
