The images of an octogenarian evicted from the house where she had lived for seven decades on a stretcher, flanked by protesters and police, sparked outrage throughout Spain. Hours later, people began to take to the streets. In Madrid, some 10,000 people showed up on Wednesday with signs that said “Shame” and “Out with the vulture funds” to protest against the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal. From the far north of Spain to the south, people took to the squares calling for a nationwide reckoning on access to housing. The catalyst was the eviction of Abascal, now known throughout the country by her given name, Maricarmen. The 87-year-old disabled woman said she was forced to leave her home after she could not afford the 230% rent increase demanded by the investment fund that bought her apartment. “This eviction is the canary in the coal mine,” said political scientist Cristina Monge. “It has become a symbol, seen as the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the issue of housing.” It was, as the newspaper El País said in an editorial, a glimpse of a real estate market that had become completely detached from the average income in Spain, as rents increased by 80% in a decade, while the cost of housing had risen by 63%. “The law was followed and the market worked. But it is the law of the jungle in a broken market, and it is a failure.” Some brought tents and sleeping bags, announcing plans to set up a protest camp in Madrid’s central Plaza del Sol. The eviction had left many in Spain grappling with a sense of “helplessness,” Monge said, given that the housing issue had also been at the forefront of the Spanish Indignados movement, or 15-M, the years-long protest movement against austerity and corruption that involved millions of Spaniards and reshaped the country’s politics. Fifteen years later, housing continues to be the main concern of Spaniards and evictions still occur every day, on the order of about 25,000 a year,” he said. “But the paradox is that the country’s government includes some of the same people who led the 15-M protests. And yet housing remains a huge challenge.” Rents and house prices have soared over the past decade in Spain. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters As anger mounted this week, politicians blamed each other for the eviction. Activists and human rights researchers weighed in with possible solutions, citing the more than 3 million homes believed to be empty across the country or government figures suggesting social housing accounts for just 2.5%. of the total stock in Spain, compared to 14% in France and 34% in the Netherlands. The head of one of the country’s largest unions called for investment funds to be “expelled” from the real estate market. “Houses are for living, not for large corporations to do business,” said Unai Sordo, of the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), calling for a tax system that makes the housing hoarding business “unprofitable.” Right to housing, Koldo Casla, called on Spain to modify the laws that regulate its legal system, calling it “impossible to understand” how the profitability of a real estate company has been prioritized over Maricarmen’s right to housing. The left-wing Sumar coalition, the government’s junior partner, said it would pressure the Socialist-led government to give the green light to the expropriation of Maricarmen’s former home, as well as present a rent freeze package. highlighted the deep divisions that exist between Spanish political parties when it comes to the issue of housing. These divisions were laid bare earlier this year when the conservative Popular Party, the far-right Vox party and the Catalan independence party Junts voted to end a six-year moratorium on evictions that had managed to protect some vulnerable tenants from eviction. promises to make housing a priority, promised to quickly introduce a series of measures. “The eviction of Maricarmen is a social tragedy that we cannot accept,” he said. While his government managed to pass legislation in 2023 that strengthened tenant protection and expanded access to rent control, the Popular Party-led regions had allegedly spent €6.3 million (£5.4 million) on housing to avoid implementing parts of the legislation. public funds in a residential penthouse to be used as a temporary office. The striking contrast between the accusations against Ayuso and the eviction of Maricarmen has arisen repeatedly this week, from the decision to hold Wednesday’s protest in Madrid on a boulevard next to the penthouse, to the chants urging “Ayuso’s penthouse for Maricarmen Protesters gather in front of a penthouse bought as an office with public funds by Isabel Díaz Ayuso. Akbulut/Anadolu/Getty Images The regional leader has so far tried to downplay Maricarmen’s eviction, describing it as “one of 25,500 that take place each year in Spain” and noting that it had been authorized by the country’s courts, many in the market pointed to his plight as a glimpse into a broader reality. It is just one more example of the suffering endured by thousands of households in Spain,” Amnesty International Spain said in a statement. “Bold measures must be taken immediately. “Institutions must go beyond simply expressing regret in the press: they must take action.”
