Because in Mexico even buying a roof is an extreme sport
If you thought that the dream of owning your own home in Mexico was already difficult (spoiler: it is), get ready for this jewel of national life. Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, federal deputy of the PT, has just launched an initiative for real estate corruption to join the exclusive club of crimes that deserve unofficial preventive detention. Yes, like reading it: if you get caught cheating with buildings, you could end up behind bars without bail. Did someone say “poetic justice”?
Article 19 and the new guests to prison
The proposal, which is already in the hands of the Constitutional Points Commission, seeks to modify article 19 of the Constitution. There are listed the crimes that make the Public Ministry able to request preventive detention as if it were a Netflix combo. According to the deputy, real estate corruption is so serious that it deserves to be on that list along with other classics such as kidnapping or drug trafficking. Because, of course, what better way to combat the housing crisis than by sending cheaters to sleep in a cell?
And be careful, this is not an idea taken out of the blue. Since 2023, the Criminal Code of the CDMX already considers this crime, defining it as what some smart people do: building extra floors as if they were levels of a video game, but without permission. In other words, the classic “I add another department and no one notices.” Spoiler: they always notice.
Housing in Mexico: the guajiro dream with data from the INEGI
To finish off his speech, Mejía Berdeja released data from INEGI that hurt more than a stub on the little toe: only 57.1% of Mexicans live in their own house (and paid for, because they don’t count for anything else). The rest? 16.4% renting as if life were an episode of “Friends” and 14.2% living favorably, because “I’ll pay you later” is the national motto.
“This reflects the brutal inequalities of the country,” said the deputy, in what could be the euphemism of the year. Because it’s not just about not having a house: it’s that those who do manage to buy one often end up in unsafe areas, with buildings more crooked than the Angel of Independence after an earthquake. And all thanks to the real estate cartels (yes, those that according to the deputy are full of PAN members in Benito Juárez).
So now you know: if one day you manage to buy an apartment and discover that your building has a ghost apartment, at least you can console yourself with the thought that the person responsible could go to jail. Or so we hope.
Are you outraged by the corruption that makes housing more expensive? Share this note and let’s make the demand for transparency go viral. And if you want more stories about surviving the chaotic real estate market, explore our related content!
