Mexico City has advanced to become one of the most livable metropolises for expats. What pleases some means for others: eviction, displacement, housing shortage. And the city government is promoting extreme gentrification.
Sunday afternoon in Santa Maria La Ribera, a neighborhood in north-central Mexico City. Every week, DJ Joel Garcia Flores spins the most popular records with tropical sounds. Every week, mainly seniors dance around the historic square, the center of which is decorated with a kind of Moorish-style domed hall from the 19th century.
The tradition has been around for 13 years. But she is in danger. Residents like Garcia Flores are to be expelled. One day the demolition excavators stood in front of his house – without warning, he says: “In the courtyard behind our house, a real estate company wanted to build a luxurious loft. The police came, threw our things on the street and we had to leave.”
The DJ was lucky, he was able to move with his family to his grandmother. But most of the neighbors who experience something similar can only move to the periphery.
Every week, DJ Joel Garcia Flores spins the most popular records with tropical sounds. Mainly seniors dance to it.
No law prescribes rental agreements
There have been more than 3,000 official evictions since 2019. In the metropolis of millions, residents hardly have the opportunity to assert their rights, criticizes Daniela Sanche Carro, a rental lawyer and advisor for those affected:
“The simplest legal standards for housing law are missing. I would start with the most basic: create a law so that rental contracts become mandatory and the rent is fixed.”
This is not in the interest of those responsible in the city. The district mayor of Santa Maria La Ribera, Sandra Cuevas, has other goals: to develop elegant neighborhoods out of traditional neighborhoods with established neighborhoods.
Cuevas accompanies the evictions himself, dressed in military gear to attract the attention of the media. At a real estate fair in spring, she called on investors from all over the world to conquer Mexico City.
Since 2020, the globally uniquely lax Covid-19 rules have lured digital nomads to settle in Mexico City. The real estate market is geared accordingly.
Renovated Art Nouveau and Art Deco houses
About a third of all residents of Mexico City have had to leave the city during the pandemic, according to the non-governmental organization Coalición Internacional para el Hábitat (HIC). Plenty of room for a new clientele: wealthier foreigners. Since 2020, the globally uniquely lax Covid-19 rules have lured digital nomads to settle in Mexico City.
Especially popular, next to Santa Maria La Ribera: the central districts of Juárez, Polanco, Condesa or Roma. The Netflix production of the same name “Roma” from 2018 fueled the development. Colonial Mexico of the 1970s is romanticized in black and white.
The charm has lasted to this day: renovated art nouveau villas and art deco houses with the typical floor-to-ceiling windows, framed in industrial-chic metal frames. Against the historical backdrop, life has changed.
In many places, English has replaced Spanish as the colloquial language. Hip boutiques, trendy café chains with Matcha Latte, yoga workshops in the park characterize the picture.
Mainly seniors meet every week for dance events around the historic square.
loose entry requirements lure
The American Avery was also drawn to the idyll. The 31-year-old works as a self-love coach. “When I came to Mexico City, I instinctively decided: I want to live here. One of the main reasons is the weather, I love the food,” she says. “Even though it’s one of the biggest cities in the world, I feel grounded. And there’s a huge expat community here.”
Avery has a tourist visa. The relaxed entry regulations allow this visa to be extended indefinitely after six months by leaving and re-entering the country. Most newcomers don’t pay taxes with it.
Like Avery, they work freelance, internationally, digitally. Official figures are only available for temporary or permanent residence permits: According to official figures from the state statistics agency, the number of Canadians and Americans who have moved to Mexico City with these permits has more than doubled in the last two years.
No regulations for Airbnbs
According to a recent survey of 14,000 so-called expats, Mexico City is now the third most livable city in the world after Dubai and Valencia. Expats are privileged migrants who can easily move from place to place with their passport, often speak several languages and can work from anywhere.
Victoria is one of them. When asked where she comes from, the well-travelled woman says: “From Planet Earth”, she is a “citizen of the world”. She and her boyfriend rent 150 square meters for 1,800 euros. For comparison: Mexicans earn around 400 euros a month in the capital – less than a quarter of their current monthly rent.
The housing provider Airbnb has also recognized this purchasing power. There are currently 20,000 Airbnbs in Mexico City, ten percent more than in 2019. Providers can earn up to ten times more than with local rentals.
A few months ago, former mayor Claudia Sheinbaum promoted this: she called the development “creative tourism” and supported owners in converting their apartments into Airbnbs. Sheinbaum has since resigned from office in order to be allowed to run for the 2024 presidential election. However, the city continues to pursue its policy.
Artist Sandra Valenzuela has invented a patron saint against gentrification – the Patrona Santa Marí La Juaricua.
patron saints against gentrification
Politicians haven’t yet understood the power that the issue has, says the artist Sandra Valenzuela: “The digital nomads don’t vote here in Mexico. Those who vote for the politicians are the displaced when their apartment is turned into an Airbnb transformed. Actually, it would be a very attractive topic politically.”
Together with Jorge Baca, the artist invented a patron saint against gentrification – the Patrona Santa Marí La Juaricua. In Mexico, veneration of saints is part of folklore. Santa Marí La Juaricua is an icon, draped on an altar is the hipster saint with round glasses and a large hat. She is also said to have helped disciples to avoid an eviction, whispers Jorge Baca. When the protest dies down and petitions are ignored in Mexico City, then the only thing that can help is prayer.