DENVER, Colorado — The mayor of Mexico City says her city faces similar issues that Denver sees, including rent control and housing.
Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum is in Denver for the Cities Summit of the Americas, where leaders from across the country and the world are coming together.
One issue facing Mexico City is rising rent. During the pandemic, there was an uptick in Americans who moved to Mexico, specifically Mexico City. Sheinbaum says her team is working on a study to see if everyone moving to the area has contributed to rent increases.
"We are doing that study. We thought that in the special part of the city, three neighborhoods, which are near downtown," Sheinbaum said.
The rent may have increased due to short-term rentals and platforms like Airbnb making them so accessible.
"We don’t know already if it has had any impact or not. It is not in all of the city, just in special neighborhoods. The good thing, of course, is that they bring tourists and other economic development for the city," Sheinbaum added.
As Denver's seen a pretty continuous migration from South America, the mayor also says resources need to be given cities like Mexico City and Denver, where migrants are choosing to settle.
"I think immigration is a complex phenomena. I think the most important thing to learn from Mexico City and Denver and other cities and countries is that we have to invest places where the migrants are coming," Sheinbaum explained.
She also mentioned that people need to be treated as humans when they make the decision to uproot their lives.
"The other thing that is important is discrimination has to end in any way," Sheinbaum said. "Migration is, in many parts of the world, it’s seen as something that comes with discrimination and there has to be instead of discrimination, there has to be humanization of the people who have to migrate for necessity."
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