After thousands of chilangos (slang for Mexico City natives, FYI) poured into the streets of the capital to protest gentrification and rising living costs earlier this month, Mexico City’s mayor, Clara Brugada, has come up with a preliminary plan that could help regulate rent across the city.
The plan, unveiled by Brugada and her party, tackles skyrocketing costs head-on with regulations that could prevent landlords from putting astronomical rent prices on properties, while also publishing a list of rental proposals that could help balance the housing market.
‘We want the population living in Mexico City to stay in Mexico City,’ Brugada said, according to Mexico News Daily. ‘The increase in rents in Mexico City, especially in certain areas, have been excessively high, so the time has come to develop public policies that help us ease tensions in those areas.’
Recommended: Can popular European cities ever recover from overtourism?
And Brugada isn’t stopping there. She also plans on creating more affordable housing units to tackle gentrification head-on, while regulating short-term rentals and Airbnbs to ‘prevent the displacement of people and communities, establish a balance between the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants, regulate temporary accommodation platforms and create a public body to uphold, guarantee, and monitor compliance with the law and punish abuses,’ the mayor said.
Mexico is the latest country to vocalise its unrest between locals and foreigners, following countries like Spain, Greece, Portugal and Germany, who have been protesting the same issues these past few years after influxes of tourists and digital nomads moved abroad to take advantage of cheaper living costs.
But alas, with their higher spending power comes higher repercussions for locals, especially in Mexico after Covid, when tonnes of tourists moved over for its affordable costs and lighter pandemic restrictions. It got worse in 2022 when Mexico’s former mayor and current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, signed an agreement with Airbnb and UNESCO in 2022 to attract tourists and digital nomads. Clearly, it worked.
Recommended: Is the work-from-anywhere dream already over?
‘Intolerance towards foreigners has also increased since the new US administration, as we’ve seen a lot of intolerance toward Mexicans living in the US on the news,’ says 30-year-old Mexico City native, Isabel Toporek, who lives in the Colonia Escandón neighbourhood and has experienced the city’s cost-of-living crisis first hand.
‘We’ve seen changes in rent, restaurant, and cafe prices, and associate this with the many foreigners – especially Americans. The protests reflect this anger. However, my annoyance isn’t directed at foreigners, but at the situation affecting my wallet. I believe the best solution is to keep prices in gentrifying areas relatively neutral.’
Others believe it’s time to tax the tourists. Sixteen-year-old Emiliana Rey Maza, who lives in Tlalpuente, says she has friends who are struggling to make rent. ‘We’re paying more for foreigners to be here. It’s only fair that they pay, too, maybe through a tax or visa system.’
While it’ll take more than a policy proposal to fix the issues associated with a high cost-of-living and gentrification, Mexico City is at least making moves to find the solution. We can only hope that other countries with the same struggle will follow suit.
Did you see this country officially has the world’s most powerful passport right now?
Plus: UNESCO just announced 26 new World Heritage Sites.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Travel newsletter for all the latest travel news and best stuff happening across the world.
