Spain Mourns Elderly Eviction Victim As Housing Crisis Triggers Election

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

MADRID (Worthy News) – Spain is mourning an 87-year-old woman who became the face of the country’s housing crisis following her death in hospital, just weeks after being evicted from the apartment where she had lived for seven decades.

About 20,000 people marched through central Madrid on Thursday evening in memory of María del Carmen Abascal, widely known as Maricarmen, according to government estimates. Her forced removal from her home sparked nationwide protests and a political crisis that prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call a snap general election for November 29.

Abascal died Wednesday night, despite earlier hopes that she could return to her apartment under a new rental agreement negotiated following public outrage over her eviction, as Worthy News previously reported.

She had lived in the Madrid property for more than 70 years, initially with her parents, before an investment company acquired the building and sought a rent increase that she could not afford on her pension.

MADRID EVICTION PROTESTS

After years of legal disputes and previous unsuccessful eviction attempts, Abascal was forced from her apartment on September 23 and taken to hospital. She had been suffering from severe anxiety and exhaustion, although the cause of her death has not been announced.

Her death prompted an outpouring of grief outside her former home, where mourners placed flowers, lit candles and left handwritten messages thanking her for bringing national attention to Spain’s housing crisis.

“You made history, Maricarmen,” read one message. Another said: “Thank you for changing Spain.”

Sara, a 41-year-old mother whose last name was not reported, visited the memorial with her young son and said Abascal’s death illustrated the consequences of institutions failing to protect vulnerable people.

PUBLIC GRIEF

“When people are protected less than investors, that leads to these kinds of things happening,” she said.

Housing campaigners who had supported Abascal during her legal battle also gathered at the memorial.

“When money is more powerful than people’s lives, it’s unbelievable,” said Miguel, 59, whose last name was also not reported and who placed a red rose among the tributes.

The demonstrations intensified a political crisis after lawmakers rejected emergency measures proposed by Sánchez’s Socialist-led government to protect vulnerable tenants and regulate rents.

SPAIN SNAP ELECTION

Sánchez subsequently called a snap general election for November 29, bringing housing affordability to the center of the campaign.

His main challenger is Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative People’s Party, which won the most seats in the 2023 election but failed to secure enough parliamentary support to form a government.

Two opinion polls published Friday indicated that the People’s Party and the far-right Vox party, led by Santiago Abascal, could secure a combined parliamentary majority. A survey conducted by 40dB for Spanish newspaper El País and radio station Cadena SER projected a combined 198 seats for the two parties, above the 176 required for a majority in Spain’s 350-seat parliament.

Feijóo has accused Sánchez of failing to tackle Spain’s housing shortage during his eight years in office. His party favors expanding construction and reducing bureaucratic obstacles rather than imposing further restrictions on landlords.

NEW HOUSING DECREES

Sánchez’s government approved two extraordinary housing decrees Tuesday containing 21 measures, including extended protections against evictions for vulnerable residents, regulation of room and seasonal rentals, tax incentives for affordable housing and restrictions on speculative property purchases. Some provisions still require parliamentary ratification.

The government’s intervention followed widespread demonstrations, including a major protest in Barcelona that turned violent Monday night when groups of activists clashed with police, threw rocks and set fire to rubbish bins.

Sánchez expressed condolences to Abascal’s family and friends, while Feijóo also offered his sympathies and urged political leaders not to politicize her death.

Spain faces a housing shortage estimated at hundreds of thousands of homes, while rising rents have made accommodation increasingly unaffordable for many families, young people and pensioners.

SPAIN HOUSING SHORTAGE

Housing campaigners say Abascal’s death has given a human face to a crisis often measured in property prices, rental contracts and eviction statistics.

For the elderly pensioner, an agreement reached shortly before her death had offered the prospect of returning to the home where she spent most of her life. However, she died before signing the new rental contract.

Her hopes of returning home were never realized, leaving the European Union nation divided over housing policy and preparing for elections in which her story has become a powerful symbol of the struggle for affordable homes.