The city of Oaxaca is one of the most affected by gentrification and there have been several protests to demand the right to housing, as well as to prevent the expulsion of residents by foreigners who have moved to the state capital. In response to this problem, a law was introduced to guarantee access to housing.
Gentrification is a social phenomenon in which the inhabitants of an area are expelled by people with higher incomes. This is because their arrival directly affects an increase in the costs of services, as well as housing, and this causes the original residents to be unable to pay for them. This forces them to go to a place where they can afford to live.
“Gringo is not a friend”, “gringo go home”, “gringo go back”, are some of the phrases that can be found painted on the walls of Oaxaca and that were placed as one of the protests to demand the regulation of housing.
Faced with this problem and the lack of laws and public policies to regulate this phenomenon, Congressman Noé Doroteo, of the Labor Party, presented the initiative “Law for the Prevention of Gentrification and Protection of Local Communities in the State” to the Oaxaca Congress.
What does the law to prevent gentrification in Oaxaca consist of?
The law seeks to preserve cultural identity, as well as ensure the right to housing, promote equity and social justice, encourage community participation, guarantee sustainable development, offer incentives for affordable housing, as well as establish monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
The initiative includes 22 articles that seek to combat this phenomenon. One of them addresses the right to housing and indicates that, if approved, limits must be established on rent increases for apartments and houses in Oaxaca to prevent them from rising excessively.
It also proposes that tenants can renew their rental contract in order to avoid unjustified displacement. It also includes a proposal that new housing be “affordable” for low-income people, meaning that they can afford it without having to put the next generations of their family into debt.
One of the most important sections is the one that aims for development policies to focus on vulnerable groups and at the same time guarantee job training programs, access to social and educational services, as well as a promotion of the local economy. At the same time, it seeks to regulate digital platforms used to rent a property or home, such as Airbnb.
The initiative included the areas of the Historic Center, Jalatlaco and Xochimilco, in Mexico City, as an example of the transformation that gentrification has caused and that current legislation has not managed to solve or prevent, according to Proceso.
The initiative also recognizes the problems that gentrification has caused in these areas and among them is the pressure on the real estate market, which is directly reflected in the rise in housing prices. It still needs to be discussed and voted on to be applied in Oaxaca.
Source: radioformula
