A Madrid pensioner whose eviction sparked nationwide protests that have increased pressure on the government to resolve Spain’s property crisis can return home after an agreement with the property’s owners, her lawyer said Monday. Unaffordable housing has been a persistent sore for years in Spain, but the protest over last Wednesday’s eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal brought the crisis to the forefront of political debate. Protesters have set up approximately 100 tents at Madrid’s iconic Puerta del Sol since Saturday night, while tens of thousands of people have protested across the country. “If this agreement that we have reached is signed, it will obviously be a better and happier result for everyone,” Abascal’s lawyer, Beatriz Duro, told the press, calling it “the fruit of social mobilization.” “Hopefully this agreement, this different way of ending this type of situation, which unfortunately happens every day in this country, helps change the paradigm in terms of housing in general,” said Duro. Abascal, who uses a wheelchair, was taken on a stretcher from the Madrid house where she had lived for 70 years and became a symbol of the protest against runaway housing prices and the lack of protection for tenants. She had always paid rent, but the real estate company that owned her apartment increased the monthly rent by 275 percent to 2,650 euros ($3,000), her supporters say. Duro stated that there has been “good will on the part of both parties” and that the rent will be “similar to what she had been paying.” Abascal will be able to return to her apartment in the Madrid neighborhood of Retiro after leaving the hospital, where she is being treated for exhaustion, added Duro, who stated that the objective is to “speed up the procedures.” Read moreMaricarmen against the ‘vultures’: a ‘social tragedy’ that mobilizes Spaniards ‘Be brave’ The government of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is seeking an agreement on a new housing package to present to the cabinet on Tuesday to appease popular anger. “We are experiencing a serious situation right now in Spain,” said Carlota, a 29-year-old protester who spent Sunday night in Sol, asking “to stop putting capital and investment funds before people.” In Barcelona, which has seen several demonstrations in recent years linking housing costs to overtourism, around 2,000 protesters gathered on Monday night to demand ambitious measures during a visit by Sánchez. “We have come here to tell (Sanchez) that we do not want a false decree,” Carme Arcarazo, spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union of Catalonia, told the press, including AFP. “We don’t want band-aids… we want decent housing so that what happened to Maricarmen doesn’t happen again,” said Arcarazo, demanding rent freezes, indefinite contracts and anti-eviction measures. Read moreThousands of people march in Madrid to protest the eviction of an 87-year-old woman. The Socialists are holding talks with junior far-left coalition partners Sumar and a host of other parties to pass a law. But the coalition lacks a majority in parliament, making the success of any such initiative unclear, while a similar housing bill was rejected earlier this year. ‘Jungle’ In the last decade, the average rental price per square meter in Spain has almost doubled, reaching 15.10 euros per square meter in August, according to the Idealista real estate portal. For buyers it now amounts to 2,355 euros, which represents an increase of more than 50 percent compared to the same period, according to official figures. “It’s a jungle, it’s impossible to become completely independent without sharing a flat,” Laura Requena, a 32-year-old teacher, told AFP during the demonstration in Barcelona. “We can’t make ends meet having to pay rent,” he added. The Bank of Spain estimates that the country of around 50 million inhabitants is missing 700,000 homes, based on the gap between demand and new construction. Spain has little public housing, while rents have risen due to increased demand, including tourism and population growth linked to immigration, analysts say. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)