Spain's coalition government has approved emergency housing measures following mass protests triggered by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her Madrid apartment, where she had lived for seven decades.
Maria del Carmen Abascal, widely known as Maricarmen, was carried out of her home on a stretcher last Wednesday. An international investment fund had purchased her building and raised her rent by more than 200 percent -- to roughly 1,880 dollars a month -- in a move seen as an attempt to push out the long-term tenant and convert the property into tourist apartments.
Her case drew tens of thousands of people into the streets across Spain, with protesters setting up an encampment in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square before demonstrations spread to dozens of other cities.
On Tuesday, Abascal's lawyer, Beatriz Duro, confirmed that the real estate firm had agreed to allow her to return home as soon as she is discharged from hospital, where she has been since the eviction. Under the deal, her monthly rent will be capped at 500 euros, or approximately 570 dollars -- no more than 30 percent of her income -- for the next eight years. "She is very happy," Duro said.
The government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the new housing measures earlier the same day, after four days of intense protests.
Housing Minister Isabel Rodriguez said the main decree extends protection against evictions for vulnerable residents until 2030, regulates room rentals, imposes a new tax on seasonal rentals, and bans what the government has termed "speculative real estate purchases by vulture funds" until 2028. Additional measures include tax breaks for landlords who rent to low-income tenants, interest-free loans for first-time homebuyers, and protections for public housing.
Health Minister Monica Garcia, of the junior coalition partner Sumar, said the measures would bring relief to more than five million people. She credited the street movement directly. "It is time to intervene in the speculative housing market and start striking a balance between ordinary citizens and vulture funds," Garcia said. "Thanks to the mobilisations and the encampments. Without you, this would not have been possible."
Rodriguez echoed that sentiment, urging parliament to support the decrees. "Congress has the opportunity to tell Maricarmen that her suffering was worth it... and that many people will benefit from her battle," she said.
The two decrees take effect immediately but must be ratified by parliament within 30 days. The government has called for an extraordinary plenary session on housing for this Friday. Sanchez's coalition holds 152 of the chamber's 350 seats and will need support from smaller parties to secure passage.
The government has previously struggled to win backing from right-leaning parties. In April, a decree seeking to extend rental contracts was blocked by opposition parties. A similar package of measures also failed to pass in late July.
Miriam Nogueras, spokeswoman for the centre-right Catalan nationalist Junts party, said the new measures risked penalising small landlords. "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. Lumping together in this category those who have invested their savings in a flat, a restaurant or a property -- putting them all in the same basket -- is a mistake," she told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.
Social Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy described the package as "a first step towards the economic and social transformation of the country."
The Madrid Tenants' Union, which organised the protests, said it would remain cautious until it could review the full text of the decrees. "The streets, this encampment and all the others currently across the country are engaging in a historic standoff with the government to push it to advance the right to housing through measures that had not been considered. And this continues," said union spokesperson Alicia del Rio.
Another union representative, Valeria Racu, said the battle had "only just begun" and called for further protests across Spain next weekend. Activists said they would decide "in due time" whether to dismantle the encampment in Puerta del Sol. The regional government, led by the conservative People's Party, has asked authorities to clear the square within 48 hours before taking the matter to court.
Spain's housing crisis has been driven by rising costs and a severe shortage of homes. According to the country's central bank, Spain is approximately 755,000 homes short of current demand, a gap that could widen to one million units by 2028.
