Mexico City’s government has signed an agreement with temporary rental company Airbnb to promote creative tourism and digital nomad activity, however, organizations and individuals strongly disagree with the decision.
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51 organizations and 832 people refuted the decision, in a statement, to promote the commercialization of the historic center of the Mexican capital, because it does not benefit its inhabitants, in addition to attacking the understanding of housing as a human right.
Mexico City’s mayor wants to boost the number of “digital nomads” in the capital after signing a deal with short-term rental platform Airbnb, despite fears the influx could shut residents out of the rental market. https://t.co/VGmoF5cz0U
— Business World (@bworldph)
October 28, 2022
“The agreement replicates and brings government support to a business model that has wreaked havoc in other cities around the world. It is a blow to those of us who have fought for legislation that considers housing as a human right and not just a commodity,” the Mavericks said in a statement.
“The reality for the inhabitants of the historic center and of a good part of Mexico City is the increase in rents for different sectors of society: a whole generation of young people who grow up without labor rights and who are not subject to credit, indigenous populations who continue to struggle to have their roots recognized in the capital, elderly people who are violently expelled or dispossessed by fraudulent trials”, they denounced.
The Airbnb platform, a participant in the agreement with the capital’s authorities, is one of the players that exacerbates these problems, the protesters said, affecting both the middle classes and the popular sectors.
They also accused tenants of having been evicted to give territory to tourism and pointed to the case of at least eight buildings where they were moved for the benefit of Airbnb.
“Currently the Airbnb offer is dominated by players who accumulate up to hundreds of accommodations. Without clear regulations that put a limit on Airbnb and similar platforms, financial speculation will end up devouring the already few affordable accommodations for rent. “, they abounded.
The agreement between the transnational corporation and Mexican capital is a use of public resources to generate added value for the benefit of the private sector, through the appearance of embellishments accessible to all, when in reality they generate concentrations profits and damages to the right to housing, according to the press release.
“Other cities like Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, New York have been forced to take drastic measures against the temporary housing market. We are concerned that at CDMX such decisions are taken lightly, hiding vices and dangers well known to specialists, and without consulting at any time with its inhabitants,” they added.
In their press release, they make seven demands: Airbnb’s diagnosis and impact assessment; suspend the collaboration; take into account the legislation in this regard in other cities; effective taxation of the platform; legislative defense in the local Congress of the inhabitants of the country’s capital; a law on tenants to counter speculation and the return of displaced families.
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