Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.
- Robert Frost
Spain’s housing crisis sees homelessness rise as tourism booms • FRANCE 24 English
Spain Declares War on Airbnb — But Who Really Let the Housing Crisis Happen?
By adaptationguide.com | Lessons from Collapse: Disaster Files
Spain is finally taking a sledgehammer to the Airbnb empire. In a landmark move backed by the nation’s Supreme Court, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government has ordered the deletion of 66,000 listings—nearly one in five properties—from the platform. The reason?
A brutal housing crisis that’s leaving young Spaniards, working families, and the middle class gasping for air in a market cannibalized by profit-seeking landlords and the unchecked tourism economy.
“We have too much Airbnb and too few homes,” Sánchez declared.
No lies detected.
But let’s not start handing out medals just yet. This crisis didn’t erupt overnight. And it sure as hell wasn’t caused by a few tourists with selfie sticks.
The Real Villain? Decades of Governmental Failure
Yes, Airbnb is a parasite. But parasites only thrive when the host is weak. And Spain’s host—its public housing and urban planning system—has been on life support for years.
Rents have doubled in a decade, according to Idealista.com.
In Madrid, tenants now pay €21.40 per square meter.
Over 50% of net income goes to rent in many households.
The result?
A generation of young people are locked out of home ownership. Middle-class workers can barely tread water.
And entire neighborhoods are being hollowed out, turned into soulless tourist zones managed by absentee landlords.
This isn’t just a housing crisis—it’s economic eviction on a national scale.
So while it’s easy (and partially correct) to point fingers at Airbnb, the truth is:
Spain’s political elite spent decades watching this fire spread—and only now, with their backs against the wall, are they grabbing the extinguisher.
Airbnb's Crocodile Tears
Airbnb, of course, is playing the victim. They claim this ruling violates Spanish and EU law. They whine that families who rely on tourist rentals will suffer.
They even trot out examples from Amsterdam and New York to argue that strict regulation doesn’t work.
But here’s what Airbnb won’t say:
Their platform is a goldmine for speculators who hoard multiple properties, kick out locals, and rake in passive income from wealthy tourists.
In Spain, the average Airbnb listing earns €25,812 a year, with a 67% occupancy rate and an average €107 per night price tag.
That’s not someone renting out a spare room. That’s a business model based on scarcity and suffering.
Let’s call it what it is: commodification of a basic human right—the right to a home.
A Nation Fighting Back
Spain’s crackdown isn’t just symbolic. It's massive:
Listings without license numbers are getting axed.
Hosts who hide behind shell identities—gone.
Cities like Barcelona and Madrid are pushing back. Madrid’s conservative mayor supports the crackdown. Barcelona’s mayor wants all Airbnb licenses revoked by 2028.
This is more than legislation—it’s a grassroots revolt.
Tourism may have brought € billions to Spain, but it also brought street protests, water pistol assaults on tourists in Barcelona, beach occupations in Mallorca, and chants of “Fuera de nuestros barrios!”
(“Out of our neighborhoods!”) in Málaga. The country is done begging for scraps. They want their cities back.
The Greed Economy Is the Enemy
Don’t let anyone—tech execs, real estate moguls, neoliberal politicians—distract from the core issue:
housing is for living, not for profiting.
The real scandal isn’t that 66,000 listings are being deleted. The real scandal is that:
There weren’t enough public homes built in the last 20 years.
Land use was deregulated for profit, not people.
Foreign investors were given free rein to turn Spanish cities into playgrounds.
Successive governments slept at the wheel.
The vultures of the global rental economy swooped in. Now, finally, Spain is baring its claws.
Final Word: Don’t Waste the Moment
Let this be the start, not the end.
Spain must:
Massively invest in social and affordable housing.
Punish illegal landlords with real consequences.
Tax short-term profits into the ground.
Protect locals before tourists. Always.
And to the people of Spain: Keep the pressure on. Protest. Occupy. Name and shame. This isn’t just about housing. It’s about dignity. Sovereignty.
The right to exist in your own damn city.
You didn’t fail. The system did.
Now make them fix it—or move aside.
¡Viva la vivienda!
Sincerely,
