An 87-year-old Madrid pensioner whose eviction set off nationwide protests and intensified pressure on the government over Spain’s housing crisis is set to return to her home after an agreement was reached with the property’s owners, her lawyer said.
Housing affordability has festered for years in Spain, but the removal last Wednesday of Maricarmen Abascal pushed the issue to the centre of the political conversation.
Since Saturday night, demonstrators have pitched about 100 tents in Madrid’s emblematic Puerta del Sol square, and tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in protests across the country.
“If this agreement we have reached is signed, it will obviously be a better and happier outcome for everyone,” Ms Abascal’s lawyer Beatriz Duro told reporters yesterday, describing it as “a result of the social mobilisation”.
People attend a camp that was set up to demand measures and protest against the housing crisis at Puerta del Sol Square
“Hopefully this agreement, this different way of ending this type of situation, which unfortunately are experienced every day in this country, helps to change the paradigm when it comes to housing in general,” Ms Duro said.
Ms Abascal, who uses a wheelchair, was carried out on a stretcher from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for 70 years, quickly becoming a symbol for campaigners decrying soaring housing costs and weak tenant protections.
Supporters say she had always paid her rent, but that the real estate firm that owned the flat increased the monthly charge by 275% to €2,650.
Ms Duro said there had been “goodwill from both parties” and that the new rent would be “similar to what she had been paying”.
According to Ms Duro, Ms Abascal will be able to go back to her apartment in Madrid’s upmarket Retiro neighbourhood once she leaves hospital, where she is being treated for exhaustion. She added that the goal now is to “accelerate the procedures”.
As public anger swells, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government is working to secure agreement on a new housing package it aims to present to cabinet today.
“We are living through a serious situation in Spain right now,” said Carlota, a 29-year-old protester who spent Sunday night in Sol, urging “an end to putting capital and investment funds before people”.
Dozens of tents were pitched at Puerta del Sol in Madrid
In Barcelona — a city that has seen repeated demonstrations in recent years linking housing costs to overtourism — about 2,000 people rallied last night during a visit by Sanchez, demanding tougher action.
“We have come here to tell him (Mr Sanchez) that we don’t want a sham decree,” Carme Arcarazo, a spokeswoman for the Catalan Tenants’ Union, told reporters, including AFP.
“We don’t want sticking plasters … we want decent housing so that what happened to Maricarmen doesn’t happen again,” Ms Arcarazo said, calling for a rent freeze, indefinite contracts and measures to prevent evictions.
The Socialists are in talks with far-left junior coalition partners Sumar and a range of other parties in an effort to pass a law.
However, the coalition does not hold a majority in parliament, leaving the prospects uncertain, and a similar housing bill was defeated earlier this year.
Average rental price in Spain almost doubled
Over the past 10 years, Spain’s average rental price per square metre has nearly doubled, reaching €15.10 per square metre in August, according to the real estate portal Idealista.
For buyers, the figure now stands at €2,355 — up by more than 50% over the same period — according to official data.
“It’s a jungle, it’s impossible to become fully independent without flat-sharing,” Laura Requena, a 32-year-old teacher, told AFP at the Barcelona protest.
“We can’t make ends meet while having to pay a rent,” she added.
The Bank of Spain estimates that the country of around 50 million people lacks 700,000 homes, based on the shortfall between demand and new construction.
Analysts say Spain has little public housing, and that rents have been pushed higher by rising demand, including from tourism and population growth linked to immigration.
Read more: Housing protest sees tents pitched in Madrid square: ‘We’ll read the small print before we break camp’
