Spain Acts On Housing Crisis After Eviction Of 87-Year-Old Woman Sparks Protests

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

MADRID (Worthy News) – There was fresh hope for a hospitalized 87-year-old Spanish woman on Wednesday as authorities said she would be allowed to return home following massive protests over her eviction in Madrid last week.

Maricarmen Abascal had become a symbol of Spain’s worsening housing crisis when she was carried from her apartment on a stretcher by medical personnel after being forced out on September 23.

Abascal had lived in the apartment for 71 years. Her father first rented the property in 1956, and she remained there after her parents died under a protected rental arrangement.

However, investment company Urbagestión bought the property in 2018 and eventually raised her monthly rent to an amount she could no longer afford on her pension.

After years of legal disputes and several previous attempts to evict her, Abascal was removed from the Madrid apartment despite hundreds of protesters gathering outside in support. She was taken by ambulance to hospital.

RETURNING HOME

Her lawyer said Abascal has now accepted an agreement allowing her to return to the apartment once she leaves hospital. Under the deal, she is expected to pay about 500 euros ($585) a month, roughly 30 percent of her pension.

Her case intensified pressure on the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to intervene as soaring property prices and rents fuel growing public anger.

Thousands demonstrated in Madrid, while protesters established a tent encampment in the capital’s Puerta del Sol. Demonstrations also spread to Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Cadiz and other cities.

Amid the outcry, Spain’s coalition government approved two emergency housing decrees Tuesday, including extending protection against evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030.

Health Minister Mónica García said the measures would bring relief to more than five million people.

HOUSING MEASURES

The package also includes tighter regulation of short-term and room rentals, an extension of qualifying rental contracts until 2028 and restrictions on purchases of homes by investment funds.

“It is time to intervene in the speculative housing market and start striking a balance between ordinary citizens and vulture funds,” García said.

Referring to the demonstrations, she added: “Thanks to the mobilisations and the encampments. Without you, this would not have been possible.”

However, Míriam Nogueras, spokeswoman for the center-right Catalan nationalist Junts party, warned that the agreement could leave “small landlords out in the cold.”

“We all agreed that evictions — where the property is owned by a fund, a vulture fund, run by someone managing millions of euros — obviously need to be stopped,” she told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.

LANDLORD CONCERNS

But Nogueras said it was a mistake to place people who had invested their personal savings in an apartment, restaurant or other property in the same category as large investment funds.

The political disagreement could prove crucial. Sánchez’s minority coalition of his Socialists and the left-wing Sumar alliance does not command a parliamentary majority and needs support from other parties to keep the decrees in force.

The proposals take effect immediately but must be approved by Congress within 30 days. The government hopes lawmakers can vote on them as soon as Friday.

A previous housing decree seeking to extend rental contracts was blocked by right-leaning parties in April.

Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez urged lawmakers to back the latest measures, saying: “Congress has the opportunity to tell Maricarmen that her suffering was worth it … and that many people will benefit from her battle.”

HOUSING SHORTAGE

Yet housing activists say the measures do not go far enough. Valeria Racu, a spokeswoman for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, said the battle had “only just begun” and called for further demonstrations across Spain.

The protests come against the backdrop of a severe shortage of available homes, rapidly rising prices and growing competition for properties in some of Spain’s most popular cities and coastal regions.

The Bank of Spain estimates the country is short of about 700,000 homes, based on the gap between demand and new construction.

Official figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute showed house prices rising 12.2 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026.

Rental costs have also surged. Real estate firm Idealista said rents rose 8.5 percent in 2025, including 9.7 percent in Madrid.

FOREIGN BUYERS

Barcelona and Madrid were Spain’s most expensive major cities for renters, with prices reaching about 23.80 euros ($28) and 22.70 euros ($27) per square meter, respectively.

Foreign demand has also become an increasingly significant part of Spain’s housing market, particularly in popular tourist and retirement destinations.

Foreigners accounted for a record 15.98 percent of Spanish home purchases in the second quarter of 2026, buying more than 26,800 properties during the three-month period, according to Spain’s College of Property Registrars.

British, Dutch and German buyers were the largest foreign groups. Foreigners accounted for 32.27 percent of home purchases in the Balearic Islands and 31.03 percent in the Valencia region during the second quarter.

However, foreign buyers are only one element of a broader housing shortage involving limited construction, growing demand, tourism rentals and investment purchases. The figures also include foreigners living in Spain rather than solely overseas investors or buyers of holiday homes.

AFFORDABILITY BATTLE

The government has increasingly sought to curb investment-driven housing purchases while expanding protections for tenants, although opponents argue that excessive regulation could discourage landlords from offering homes for rent.

For Abascal, however, the immediate battle appears close to resolution.

Her return to the Madrid apartment where she spent most of her life would mark a personal victory after an eviction that transformed the elderly pensioner into the face of Spain’s increasingly heated struggle over affordable housing.