Eviction of 87-year-old woman from Madrid apartment sparks protest over Spain’s housing crisis
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid on Saturday to protest Spain’s housing crisis and demand protection measures for tenants, anti-fraud rules and a ban on evictions without alternative housing.
The demonstration follows the dramatic eviction on Wednesday of an 87-year-old woman from the Madrid apartment in which she had lived for decades.
“We are here because housing is a problem that already affects all of society, all ages and all social classes,” said protester Dora Garcia, a 55-year-old nurse. “And we can’t continue to maintain this. Housing is a right and we don’t have it.”
Taken from her home on a stretcher in the upscale Retiro neighborhood, María del Carmen Abascal was greeted by protesters and supporters as she was loaded into an ambulance.
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 Madrid Tenants Union, which organized Saturday’s protest.
Urbagestión, an investment fund that later bought the home, increased its monthly rent by 500 euros ($570) 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.
Courts have blocked three previous attempts to deport him. Extensive media coverage made Abascal a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis.
“This whole housing situation is heartbreaking. Maricarmen was, in a way, the straw that started this social unrest, but we have been dealing with this whole issue for a long time now,” said protester Simón de la Riva, 43, a teacher. “It is unacceptable that vulture funds are buying houses, that people cannot afford to live, that entire families are evicted and that an elderly woman is evicted.”
At the end of the march, demonstrators sat down in Puerta del Sol square with the apparent intention of staying put. Some even set up tents to spend at least the night – or until the police forcibly removed them.
Rising costs and housing shortages are pricing many Spaniards out of the market, despite strong economic growth in Europe’s fourth-largest economy. Revenues have not kept pace. Analysts say tourism and immigration-driven population growth in cities have put additional pressure on the limited housing supply.
The Bank of Spain estimated the country was short of around 550,000 homes last year, with Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia accounting for a substantial share.
Spain ranks near the bottom of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for public rental housing, which represents less than 2% of its available supply. The European Union average is 8%.
Spain previously built houses with public funds which were then sold to private owners, removing them from the social housing stock.
“I failed to defend my home, but I fought so that others would learn to fight for what is theirs,” Abascal said in a video shared Friday by the tenants’ union. The video was recorded from his hospital bed after the expulsion.
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