“‘Gringo,’ go home!” – How Short-Term Rentals Exacerbate the Housing Crisis in Mexico City
Short-term rentals are reshaping Mexico City’s housing market. As gentrification and displacement accelerate, protests reveal how tourism, remote work, and weak regulation deepen the urban housing crisis. By Clara-Luisa Weichelt
In July 2025, Mexico City saw mass demonstrations against gentrification and displacement. Protesters held up posters reading slogans such as “pay taxes, learn Spanish, respect my culture” or “more houses to live in, fewer to invest in “. The reason: the rise in apartments being rented out short-term. This increasingly prevents local residents from accessing adequate and affordable housing in central urban areas and is leading to evictions. To better understand the background and recent developments, I spoke with Maria Silvia Emanuelli, a lawyer, human rights specialist and Director of the Regional Office of the Habitat International Coalition.
Why Mexico City’s Housing Crisis Reached a Breaking Point
Mexico City is one of the world’s largest metropolitan regions. The challenge of finding affordable housing is nothing new. At least 42,500 families are without housing.[1],and each year, more than 20,000 low-income households are effectively “expelled” from the city due to the rising cost of both housing and land. So, why has the issue now reached a tipping point that brings people to the streets?
The pace and scale of gentrification in the city have intensified since the COVID-19 pandemic. With more possibilities for working from flexible locations, Mexico City has become a popular destination for so-called digital nomads. Visas were easy to obtain, and the restrictions during the pandemic were minor as compared to most other countries. In 2022, in an effort to revive the city’s economy hit hard by the pandemic, then-mayor Claudia Sheinbaum (now the country’s president) signed an agreement to improve conditions for Airbnb, promote tourism, and attract remote workers. Over the last few years, the growing presence of U.S. Americans and other temporary residents has visibly transformed well-established and centrally located neighbourhoods.
Short-term Rentals, Rising Rents, and a Changing Neighbourhood Fabric
“The phenomenon of gentrification of a neighbourhood today often depends on the fact that a place becomes particularly attractive for tourism. Therefore, this process is also called ‘turistification,’” Maria Silvia Emanuelli explains. As apartments are converted into short-term rentals, fewer units are available for local residents. Because foreign visitors and temporary residents often have higher purchasing power, rents and property prices increase. For many Mexican households, everyday living costs become unaffordable.
At the same time, the social fabric of the neighbourhood changes. Street vendors, traditional family-run eateries, and local shops are replaced by upscale restaurants and trendy boutiques. Residents feel increasingly alienated in their own neighbourhoods. “People notice: my language isn’t spoken here anymore, my neighbours have changed, even the sauces aren’t as spicy—they are made for a different clientele,” Emanuelli reports. “Tourists become the visible face of these changes, leading to social tensions, xenophobia, and discrimination. Yet, it is important to emphasise that visitors are not responsible for this structural crisis.”
A Crisis That Now Hits the Middle Class
A key driver of these developments is short-term rental platforms like Airbnb. According to data from Inside Airbnb, temporary housing units increased from 22,122 to 71,780 over the last 10 years. – an increase of 224.5 per cent. These apartments are mainly located in central, desirable neighbourhoods like La Condesa, Roma, or Juárez, areas with good access to basic services, parks, and healthcare. Each year, several thousand residents are pushed to the city’s outskirts, often to make room for tourists.
“We are now facing a crisis that affects the middle class, too,” Maria Silvia Emanuelli notes. “Many young adults can no longer afford to buy or rent apartments at reasonable prices, as their parents did.” Therefore, it is especially the younger and well-educated generation with a middle-class background who have taken to the streets, bringing the issue to the public’s attention.
Weak Tenant Protection and “Silent Evictions”
While Mexico City is just one example of a global phenomenon known also from many European cities like Lisbon, Florence, Barcelona, and Venice, it also faces particular challenges. Despite a growing number of renters in Mexico City, there are no effective laws protecting tenants, a problem shared in many countries of the Global South. Rental contracts typically last only one year, making regulation difficult and enabling what Emanuelli calls “silent evictions.” When contracts are not renewed, residents are forced to leave without formal eviction procedures. Often, it is hard to prove that apartments are being cleared out to be listed on short-term rental platforms. When contracts end, or evictions happen, residents often cannot find comparable housing nearby,” Maria Silvia Emanuelli explains. Unlike Europe, this makes it much harder to regulate the housing market
At the core of the conflict lies a broader structural issue: housing is treated as a commodity, not as a human right. Land is a finite resource, and it is increasingly exploited for profit. In response to the protests, Mexico City’s mayor, Clara Brugada has announced to draft a 14-point action plan to combat gentrification and touristification. This plan aims to restore the right to housing for the capital city residents. Planned measures include building more social housing, construction of affordable public rental housing, regulating rents and short-term rentals, creating a rent index, protecting tenants, and supporting local family businesses and shops. While it´s a comprehensive approach, these measures have yet to be put into practice.
Toward the “Right to the City”
Meanwhile, civil society actors have begun to monitor short-term rental trends in Mexico City, Latin America and beyond. The “Global Observatory on Short-Term Rentals” has emerged as an initiative from the Global South. The initiative contributes to the production and systematisation of information and research. Its goal is to push governments to adopt public policies that guarantee the right to housing and curb real estate speculation. Ultimately, the aim is to significantly reduce the number of people displaced from city centres. Only then can we move toward the “right to the city”—a model that stands in opposition to urban displacement and commodification.
[1] Average over the last 20 years.
