People gather during a protest following last Wednesday’s eviction of Maricarmen, 87, to demand stricter laws to protect tenants at Puerta del Sol in Madrid, Spain, Saturday September 26, 2026.
Manu Fernández/AP
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Manu Fernández/AP
MADRID — The 87-year-old woman at the center of Spain’s most high-profile deportation case in recent years will return home, her lawyer said Tuesday.
María del Carmen Abascal has been hospitalized since she was carried on a stretcher on Wednesday from the apartment where she had lived for seven decades. His case has drawn tens of thousands of people to the streets in recent days and led the government to introduce measures to address the country’s housing crisis. It remains to be seen whether they will go far enough to appease the protesters.
Abascal, known as “Maricarmen,” agreed to a deal with the company that owns her apartment in the upscale Retiro neighborhood to return home as soon as she is released, her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, told the Associated Press.
“She’s very happy,” Duro said.
The agreement limits her rent to 30% of her income, meaning she will pay no more than the 500 euros ($570) a month she was paying previously.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist-led coalition announced the new measures on Tuesday, after four days of intense protests centered around an encampment in Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s most iconic square.
New housing measures
The government’s main decree extends protection against evictions for vulnerable Spaniards until 2030, regulates room rentals, imposes a new tax on seasonal rentals and bans “speculative real estate purchases by vulture funds” until 2028, Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez told reporters at the presidential palace. It remains unclear exactly how these funds are classified or how much the tax will be, as the full text of the decree has not yet been published.
It also provides tax breaks to landlords who rent to low-income tenants, offers interest-free loans to families buying their first home, protects social housing and promotes its construction, Rodríguez added.
“It’s thanks to the citizens’ movement. To Maricarmen. To the thousands of people in the streets,” Spanish Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz wrote on social media.
Rising costs and housing shortages are excluding many Spaniards from the housing market, despite strong economic growth in Europe’s fourth-largest economy. Protesters are calling for stronger protections for tenants, measures to combat fraud and a ban on evictions when alternative housing does not exist.
Parliament has 30 days to ratify the measures, and the government wants to speed up the process, by convening an extraordinary plenary session on housing on Friday. The governing coalition holds 152 of the House’s 350 seats, so it needs the support of smaller parties across the political spectrum to pass bills. In late July, a lack of parliamentary support prevented similar measures from being approved.
Activists see historic impasse with government
The Madrid Tenants Union, organizer of the protest, said it would remain cautious until it could review “the fine print” of the decree.
“The streets, this encampment and all the others currently across the country are engaged in a historic confrontation with the government to push it to advance the right to housing through measures that had not been envisaged. And this continues,” declared Alicia del Río, spokesperson for the union.
Protesters camp out during a demonstration in Sol Square following last Wednesday’s eviction of Maricarmen, 87, as they demand stricter laws to protect tenants in Madrid, Spain, Monday, September 28, 2026.
Manu Fernández/AP
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Manu Fernández/AP
Activists, who have called for more protests this weekend across the country, will decide “in due course” whether to dismantle the encampment, a spokesperson told AP in a text message. The regional government, led by the conservative People’s Party, asked the government delegate to clear the square within 48 hours before taking the matter to court. The protesters remained peaceful.
“There are years when nothing happens and weeks where history is made. This could be one of them,” the union said in a statement. “A historic window of opportunity has opened to end decades of commodification of housing, and the coming days will be crucial. That’s why we must step up the pressure.”
Smaller encampments have sprung up in other cities, from Seville and Malaga in the south to Santiago de Compostela in the north and Palma de Mallorca in the tourist-heavy Balearic Islands, drawing international attention to a long-standing problem.
Asked about the situation Monday, Pope Leo XIV said it underscored the need for political leaders to find solutions to the housing crisis affecting many communities.
“Perhaps we need to insist that political leaders and authorities find a solution to this problem, because the problem is obviously increasing and often we only react in an emergency,” he said, after admitting he was not familiar with this case. “But we have to try to see what the systemic cause of the problem is and how to fix it.”
Spain has had a housing law since 2023 that regulates rents and protects tenants, while allowing rent caps in high-demand areas at the request of local governments.
Abascal’s family had been renting the apartment since the 1950s
Spanish media reported that Abascal’s father first rented the property in 1956 and that she remained a tenant after her parents died, during which time there was a rent cap. The building changed ownership in 2018 and Abascal was offered the chance to buy the apartment, but he could not afford it, according to the union that organized Saturday’s protest.
Urbagestión, an investment fund which later bought the accommodation, increased its monthly rent by 500 euros to 2,650 euros. He then lowered the rent to 1,650 euros, which Abascal still could not pay with his pension, the union said.
The company did not respond to AP’s email and phone requests for comment.
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