Beneath the laser lights and pulsating beats of Ibiza‘s world-renowned party scene lies a stark reality: a deepening housing crisis forcing many locals and seasonal workers into desperate living conditions.
While international revellers spend lavishly on an experience they deem ‘worth it’, the island’s housing crunch means residents are sharing cramped apartments, commuting from the mainland, or resorting to unauthorised encampments in tents and motorhomes.
This struggle on Ibiza mirrors a wider issue across Spain, where a severe shortage of affordable accommodation in cities and popular coastal destinations has ignited protests.
Activists demand rent controls and denounce overtourism, accusing landlords of prioritising lucrative short-term tourist lets over less profitable extended leases.
The scale of the crisis on Ibiza is stark. Local authorities reported nearly 800 people living in makeshift settlements last year.
This figure, however, excludes an estimated 200 individuals evicted last month from the ‘Can Rovi 2’ camp, where they had been living in shacks, tents, and vans.
Jeronimo Diana, a 50-year-old water technician from Argentina who stayed at Can Rovi 2, said: “The island is paradise, the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. But it has a flipside”.
A normal monthly rent would swallow most of his 1,800-euro salary, Diana said.
Ibiza’s average rents peaked at 33.7 euros per square metre in July last year, a 23% rise from July 2023, data from property website Idealista shows. That translates to about 1,500 euros ($1,756) for a small one-bedroom apartment. Spain’s national minimum wage is 1,381 euros per month.
In one possible knock-on effect, Ibiza is seeing a growing shortage of teachers and health workers, according to regional government data. Some public servants commute from neighbouring Balearic islands Menorca and Mallorca.
Maria Jose Tejero, a 24-year-old emergency medical technician, said she shares a small flat with two housemates to make ends meet because the rent is twice her salary.
Crewing an ambulance at night sometimes makes her feel “like a babysitter”, Tejero said. “People come here, drink, take drugs and think life’s just a party when…
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