Tuesday, May 20

Spain has instructed Airbnb to take down almost 66,000 rental listings as they work to lower costs of living and house affordability across the country.

The move comes amid a serious housing crisis for not just Spain, but Europe as a whole. The large influx of tourists arriving into countries like Spain and the Netherlands has forced locals to turn their housing developments into rentals for these tourists, but the already-limited number of homes available to residents becomes even more expensive due to the choked supply.

Protests have been held across Spain over the past few months, demanding lower housing prices and claiming that the government has been putting tourists over citizens. Tourists from other countries are coming in by the masses, so people building homes find it more appealing to turn residential complexes into rental properties instead of selling them to the locals who need homes.

Now, the government has taken action-- they are cracking down on any Airbnb that does not have appropriate licensing. Some of the Airbnbs listed did not even have a license, and others had fake licenses that allowed them to rent the property out. Others failed to specify whether the listing was managed by a company or an individual. In total, 65,935 Airbnbs were affected, and the Spanish government is ordering that all of them be shut down.

However, Airbnb strongly denies that they are the cause of the housing crisis-- the company attributes the dropping affordability in Spanish cities to a lack of homes. They believe that these new rules will just hurt travelers looking for cheap options, failing to provide a benefit to the country, the company, or the tourists. They appealed the decision, but Madrid's High Court ruled in favor of the Spanish government.

This isn't the first time the Spanish government has taken action to combat this affordability crisis. Last year, Barcelona passed a law banning all short-term rentals in the city from November 2028, preventing landlords from prioritizing tourists over local residents. However, it is crucial that they find a balance between the two sides-- while tourism seems like a nuisance for Spanish citizens right now, it is extremely important to their economy, and phasing it out completely could have serious detrimental effects.

Fact of the Day (BBC): The Moon looks upside down in the Southern Hemisphere-- compared to the Northern Hemisphere, anyway. This means that the ‘Man in the Moon’ is upside down in the Southern Hemisphere and looks more like a rabbit.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. (Kahlil Gibran)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Antithetical (adj, an-tuh-THET-ih-kul) - Antithetical typically describes something that is in direct and unambiguous opposition to another thing. It is often used with to.

In a Sentence: The district's new policy is fundamentally antithetical to the school's values.