As visitor numbers hit record levels in southern Europe, some residents are being left isolated in buildings dominated by tourist flats. In Lisbon, Maria, 71, lives in an 11-unit building where only three flats are occupied by long-term residents. When her husband, who had cancer, fell last year, she had no neighbour to call for help and had to ring the fire service instead. 'I really miss it. We should be a kind of social network,' she said. 'And that social network doesn’t exist.'
In another Lisbon building, Alex is the only permanent resident among flats all rented via platforms such as Airbnb. 'It’s very weird. Imagine, I have no neighbours, even though I’m in the middle of a big city,' Alex said. 'It’s like I live in a ghost place. There’s plenty of people, I just don’t know anybody.' Alex has taken on the burden of reporting rubbish and damage, adding: 'If I need sugar or if I have an emergency, there’s no door I can knock on.'
In Barcelona, Esther, 69, has lived below two tourist flats for over a decade and regularly calls police to break up parties lasting past 3am. 'It’s horrible, absolutely horrible. It’s inhumane – nobody should live like this,' she said. She has encountered broken bottles, urine, faeces in stairwells, and even sex on a balcony in view of neighbours. 'You just never know what to expect,' she added.
Joao Povoa, 43, lives in a five-unit building near Lisbon's Praça do Comércio, sandwiched between two tourist flats. 'It’s just totally different now. To be honest, you don’t know anybody … it’s like being in a hotel,' he said. The 18th-century building has poor noise insulation, making behaviour a lottery. Despite soaring housing costs, he feels compelled to stay: 'We have to try. Because if you give up, then there’s going to be nobody living here – the community is shrinking.'
