87-Year-Old's Eviction Sparks Mass Housing Protests in Madrid

According to Spanish media, Abascal's father first rented the apartment in 1956, and she stayed on under rent controls after her parents died. The building changed hands in 2018, and the Madrid Tenants' Union says she could not afford to buy her flat. Urbagestión, an investment fund that later acquired it, raised her monthly rent from 500 euros to 2,650 euros, then lowered it to 1,650 euros, which her pension still could not cover. Critics call such firms "vulture funds". Incomes have not kept pace with housing costs, and analysts blame tourism and urban population growth for adding pressure. The Bank of Spain estimated a shortage of roughly 550,000 homes last year, while subsidised public rental housing makes up less than 2% of the country's homes, against a European Union average of 8%.

The protesters, led by the Madrid Tenants' Union, are demanding stronger tenant protections, indefinite rental contracts and a ban on evictions when no alternative housing exists, and vow to stay until new laws are passed. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promised Maricarmen at a party rally that his government would present a royal decree on housing on Tuesday, September 29. Abascal, however, has blamed Sánchez for her ordeal; in an interview with the state broadcaster RTVE (Radiotelevisión Española) the day before her eviction, she asked whether he realised how many evictions happen daily. Many Spaniards have compared the camp to the 2011 "indignados" movement, when protesters occupied the same square for 28 days. As one political scientist noted, people then protested because they could not buy a home; today they cannot even afford to rent a room.