Drizzle in an autumnal Biarritz, a dozen “Alda” bibs invest a studio by the sea: these environmental activists and alter-globalists want to denounce a tourist accommodation not declared in town hall, while Airbnb rentals must be. “Of the approximately 5,400 tourist accommodation in the city, only 2,200 are declared, 3,200 are not”, count Txetx Etcheverry, one of the leaders of this movement (“change”, in the Basque language). And denounce “A city where there are more homes than inhabitants, and where year-round housing has become impossible”.
Like two other operations in Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) and Biarritz, this one was peaceful and only lasted a few hours. But the Biarritz municipality has given Airbnb until December 18, the latest deadline, to declare its rentals, which should slow down the shift from year-round rental accommodation to occasional accommodation.
Supervise the tourist market
Real estate has become a major concern for those who live and try to find a home in the Basque Country. Moreover, Saturday, November 20, a rally was to take place in Bayonne at the call of a collective of social, trade union, political, associative organizations, personalities and elected officials. These officials hope that parliamentarians and public authorities change the situation. The deputies (MoDem) Florence Lasserre and Vincent Bru want to adopt an amendment to the law under discussion on decentralization (known as “3DS”) so that communities, in tense areas, such as the Basque Country, but also elsewhere, can intervene by regulating rents and the furnished tourist accommodation market.
The coastline first, from Bayonne to Hendaye, is feverish. But also more and more inland. Prices soar when there is a supply, construction programs, in particular social, face the scarcity of available land. And this situation disrupts the preservation of agricultural land as well as ecological balances.
The figures speak for themselves: the urban community of the Basque Country had at its birth, in January 2017, some 200,000 dwellings, but less than three quarters were used to live in the year. 42,238 were second homes, 11,930 were vacant. For decades, the region has faced a housing imbalance: second homes account for 40% of housing in Biarritz, 45% in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and most are occupied for one to two months of the year. . There are 50,000 across this territory, not counting purchases during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
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