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The US company and the local government seek to position the city as the capital of creative tourism and turn it into a center for remote workers in Latin America.
Airbnb reaches an agreement with Mexico City to attract tourists but several activists oppose
Airbnb has reached an agreement with the Government of Mexico City and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) to position the city as the capital of creative tourism and turn it into a center for remote workers in Latin America, according to a statement published this Tuesday by the US temporary rental company.
However, the decision has caused outrage in part of the population. More of 50 organizations, some 830 activists and residents signed a document, which was published this Friday, addressed to the citizens and authorities of the Mexican capital to express their rejection of the initiative.
“Hard hit”
The text indicates that it is a public policy that supports “a business model that has wreaked havoc in other cities around the world”, detailing that it is a “hard blow” against those people who have fought for legislation that considers housing as a human right, and not as a “mere commodity”. more aggravates the housing problem in Mexico City, which affects different sectors of society, including young people without labor rights “who are not subjects of credit”, indigenous populations and the elderly.
“Airbnb’s offer is dominated by actors who accumulate up to hundreds of housing spaces,” he continues. “Without a clear regulation that limits Airbnb and similar platforms, financial speculation will end up devouring the already few affordable spaces to rent,” he adds.
What do you require?
In this sense, the signatories maintain that this practice supposes a use of public resources to generate private surplus value from which a small real estate group benefits mainly, without the communities receiving any profit.
“It affects the effective right to housing and to the city as a whole for the rest of the population, including local and family businesses”, they denounce, after assuring that it is proven that these policies promote segregation processes .
For all these reasons, the activists demand, among other things, that the Government of Mexico City suspend collaboration with Airbnb until it has a public diagnosis and measures to prevent and mitigate its impact in access to housing, as well as a clear regulation on the payment of taxes by the company based in California.
