Breathe
By Graciela Rock
In Mexico, as in many parts of the world, having a place to live is no longer synonymous with home or shelter. Today, access to decent housing has become a daily struggle, a struggle that is traversed by historical inequalities, economic interests and public policies that are disconnected from reality. Women, and especially young women, find themselves at the end of this race with their feet tied: without access, without support and trapped in spaces that, instead of protecting them, condemn them.
Mexico is experiencing a structural housing crisis: prices are skyrocketing, wages are stagnating, and real estate speculation is turning cities into commodities. According to Infonavit, at least 400,000 homes in the country are abandoned, while millions of people face overcrowding, unaffordable rents or the impossibility of becoming independent. What does this mean for those who want to flee a violent situation at home? They simply cannot.
The mirror is eerily similar in other countries, such as Spain. The rental bubble, with precarious housing and abusive conditions -especially in cities such as Madrid, Malaga or Barcelona- has strained life to unsustainable levels. Women are also doubly penalized: less access to mortgage credit, greater labor informality and almost exclusive responsibility for caregiving. In both countries, being a woman and wanting a space of one's own has become a utopia. Let alone if, in addition, the person seeking housing is a migrant and must face real estate racism. Emancipation is not a decision: it is a privilege.
The right to housing has been hijacked by the market. Real estate speculation has turned land into a financial asset. The phenomenon is not new, but in recent years it has reached alarming levels. Investment funds, construction companies and developers resell, fractionate and build "high profile" developments, inaccessible to the majority. In Spain, this logic has even been institutionalized. The so-called vulture funds -international investors who buy cheap properties in crisis to resell them for astronomical profits- now own thousands of apartments for rent.
The logic is perverse: it is not built where it is most needed, but where it is most profitable. In the meantime, housing prices soar. In Mexico City, for example, the cost per square meter has doubled in the last decade, while the minimum wage has barely increased in real terms. The gap has become a chasm. Living close to work, school or public transportation is a luxury. The peripheries are growing, but without services or infrastructure.
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