Raquel Guasch, the Director of the State Administration in Ibiza and Formentera, has said that requiring applicants to have 10 years of registration in Ibiza to access public housing would not be fair given the island's housing shortage and its need to attract workers.

Her comments come amid a dispute over the allocation criteria for the 532 affordable-rental homes planned at Ca n'Escandell in Ibiza Town.

Guasch Questions the 10-Year Requirement

In an interview published on Sunday, September 20, Guasch was asked about the proposal for a 10-year minimum registration period.

Her response was direct: she said she did not consider 10 years to be fair in the circumstances of Ibiza and Formentera.

Guasch argued that public and private workers frequently move to the islands for employment and need access to housing. She specifically referred to public employees who have relocated to Ibiza and said that some are already facing very high housing costs.

She said the objective should be to make homes available in Ca n'Escandell rather than create a system that could make it harder for workers arriving from elsewhere to settle on the island.

The Dispute Over Ca n'Escandell

The comments follow a disagreement between the central government and local authorities over the future allocation of the Ca n'Escandell development.

The project is planned to provide 532 affordable-rental homes in Ibiza. CASA 47, the state-owned housing entity, is responsible for the development, while the wider Ca n'Escandell residential project has been progressing through planning and construction-related stages. Official documentation confirms that project work includes the preparation of the building projects for the planned homes.

During a visit to Ca n'Escandell on September 17, Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez said that prior registration in Ibiza would not be required to apply for the homes.

According to the criteria she outlined, legal residents from elsewhere in Spain would be able to apply. Residents who obtain a property would then be required to live in the home and register in Ibiza.

The approach is intended, according to Rodríguez, to help address the difficulty of attracting essential workers to areas such as Ibiza where housing costs are high.

Local Authorities Want Priority for Existing Residents

Ibiza's local institutions have taken a different position.

The Consell de Alcaldes, made up of the island's mayors, has called for public and affordable housing developments to prioritise people already living in Ibiza. It has specifically requested priority for applicants who can demonstrate at least 10 years of residence on the island.

The Ayuntamiento de Eivissa has also used a 10-year continuous registration requirement in some of its own public-housing schemes. For example, the first seven homes under the municipal 'Eivissa, una ciutat per viure-hi' plan required applicants to have been continuously registered in the municipality for at least 10 years.

That municipal requirement should not be confused with the rules governing every protected housing development in the Balearic Islands.

What the Balearic Housing Law Says

The current Balearic housing law establishes a minimum of five years' residence in the Balearic Islands for access to protected housing in public developments.

For public developments, applicants who have met that five-year period in the municipality where the housing is located receive preference. The legislation also allows the five-year requirement to be waived in certain cases involving public employees relocated to cover essential needs in areas including healthcare, education, policing and justice.

This means the 10-year figure being discussed in Ibiza is a local preference or requirement in particular schemes, rather than a universal 10-year rule established by Balearic housing law.

Guasch Highlights Public-Service Workers

Guasch used public employees as an example of why she questions a long prior-registration requirement.

She said that workers transferred to Ibiza can face extremely expensive accommodation and cited the example of officials paying around €1,200 for a room in a shared property without a private bathroom.

Her argument is that Ibiza needs professionals in both the public and private sectors, but housing costs can make it difficult for those workers to remain on the island.

She therefore supports making housing in Ca n'Escandell available as part of the response to the island's housing shortage.

A Broader Housing Debate

The interview also addressed other possible responses to Ibiza's housing crisis.

Guasch said she would like the Balearic Government to apply the national Housing Law in the islands and raised the possibility of declaring Ibiza a stressed residential market area, a measure that can introduce rent-related controls under the national legislation.

She also argued for greater use of existing housing stock, including addressing homes being rented illegally to tourists and encouraging owners to place properties into regulated rental programmes.

These are political positions expressed by Guasch rather than measures that have been approved as part of the Ca n'Escandell allocation process.

Different Administrations, Different Priorities

The disagreement reflects different approaches to the question of who public housing in Ibiza should serve.

Local authorities have emphasised priority for people who already live on the island, particularly those who have spent many years in Ibiza and are already affected by the housing shortage.

The central government has emphasised the wider pool of legal residents in Spain and the need to attract essential workers to areas where housing costs are making recruitment difficult.

The Balearic housing law provides a five-year regional residence requirement for protected public housing and gives preference to those meeting that requirement in the municipality concerned, subject to the legal exceptions.

No Final Allocation Rules Yet

The homes at Ca n'Escandell are not yet available for occupation, and the final detailed allocation process remains to be established.

Official documentation shows that the project is still progressing through development and construction-related stages rather than being an already completed housing development.

The current debate over registration requirements therefore concerns the criteria that will ultimately govern access to the homes.

The Housing Challenge in Ibiza

Guasch's comments add another voice to the growing debate over how public housing should be allocated on an island where housing costs have become a major issue for residents and employers.

Her position is that a long prior-registration requirement could make it harder to accommodate workers who move to Ibiza to fill jobs, while local authorities are seeking stronger priority for people with established ties to the island.

The final rules for Ca n'Escandell will determine how those competing objectives are reflected in the allocation of the 532 planned homes.