Anger grows across Spain after elderly woman evicted from her home of 70 years
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • one month ago • 37 commentsBy: Jamie Gray and Freddie Clayton
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Sept. 26, 2026, 10:25 AM EDTBy Jamie Gray and Freddie Clayton
An 87-year-old Spanish woman was forcibly evicted Wednesday from the Madrid apartment she had lived in for more than 70 years, in a case that highlights a growing housing crisis in the country.
Video showed Maricarmen Abascal, who is a wheelchair user, being taken out of the building in the Spanish capital's Retiro neighborhood on a stretcher and driven away in an ambulance.
Hundreds of supporters had gathered outside the building overnight to protest her eviction, with dozens of police officers holding them back as some tried to stop the eviction from going ahead. In a social media video posted Friday by the Madrid tenants union, Abascal gave thanks for the support she had received.
Abascal's lawyer, Beatriz Duro, described the force used in the eviction as "completely disproportionate and unnecessary" and decried the intransigence of the building's owners.
The case has brought new attention to an ongoing housing crisis in major cities across Spain, as gentrification has caused rents to skyrocket and the stock of affordable housing to shrink, leading to growing public anger.
Tenants unions and other housing groups on Thursday held protests and rallies in 16 cities, including Granada, Logrono and Zaragoza. The Madrid tenants union plans to hold another major protest in the capital Saturday evening.
An investment fund acquired Abascal's building in 2018 and sought a steep increase in her rent, and she had been fighting eviction for more than five years, according to the Madrid tenants union.
Duro said court officials and representatives of the fund, Urbagestion, had refused to suspend the eviction despite a pending court filing, humanitarian appeals and evidence that public authorities were working to secure alternative accommodation.
"They're all inhumane," Abascal said in a Spanish television interview the day before her eviction. "It's as if I'm living with a machete at the back of my neck, ready to be chopped off at any moment."
Duro also said an anonymous individual had offered to cover the rent payments, but the landlord declined to sign a new lease.
"We've been trying to negotiate with the landlords right up until the last moment, and they've flatly refused everything," she said, decrying "a lack of humanity" in her treatment and "all these public resources" channeled into enabling the eviction.
Urbagestion did not respond to a request for comment.
The fresh wave of anger comes after protests in recent years against overtourism in Barcelona, where activists say a surge in apartments being used for short-term vacation rentals has contributed to a shortage of affordable housing.
The European Union announced new rules earlier this month aimed at tackling the housing crunch caused by short-term rentals in tourism hot spots.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described the eviction as "a social tragedy that we cannot accept either as a country or, of course, from the perspective of public institutions."
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Sanchez accused Madrid's conservative regional government of pursuing luxury penthouses while ignoring demand for social housing.
Irene Hernandez Lopez, a 31-year-old test engineer living and renting in Chamberi, about 2 miles from Retiro, said what had happened to Abascal was "outrageous," and she is worried similar evictions were already happening to other tenants around the city.
"Housing has become a product that people do business with," she told NBC News. "It no longer matters that it's your personal world, where you live and where you do your life."
Hernandez Lopez, who pays 500 euros ($570) for a room in an apartment she shares with two others, said she was currently looking to move because the property was old and needs repairs, but that the rental market in Madrid was "terrible," with prices "rising extremely quickly" and very little available.
"Some rooms are 500 euros or 600 euros and you think, 'How am I supposed to live here? How can I pay 500 euros for this?'" she said. "I do think prices should be regulated, because wages aren't going up while housing prices keep increasing. I don't know how we're supposed to keep going."
Dan Nicander, secretary-general for the International Union of Tenants, said the situation in Spain was something his organization had seen in many countries in Europe.
"It's a part of the financialization problem, seeing housing as an asset more than a home to people," he told NBC News.
It's "really tough" for the people living in the houses to do anything about it, he added, saying the responsibility lay with politicians "to regulate the market in a way that it shouldn't be that easy to buy and invest and then not [be] using the houses as homes."
"Housing is a right," he said. "It's a fundamental right, first and foremost. It shouldn't be a commodity."
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Spain, as gentrification has caused rents to skyrocket and the stock of affordable housing to shrink
its funny how verboten it is to report why rents have gone up. It’s mass migration. Spain has let in 8 million migrants jn 10 years. Foreigners now represent 20% of the population. Of course housing costs have skyrocketed.
It is only funny till you acknowledge that this is how capitalism works.
If you had a choice, would you prefer to live in a capitalist country (for example the United States) or a strongly Socialist country . . .?
You find the concept of supply and demand funny?
Personally, I don't see much humor in basic concepts like that. Two plus two equaling four is not really a knee slapper in my book.
But people willfully ignoring basic concepts and then being outraged at the result of their own actions can be humorous.
Read it again. I will wait. Your comment gets it exactly backwards.
Just explain why people willfully ignoring basic concepts and then being outraged at the result of their own actions isn't humorous.
When and where have rents ever come DOWN ?
Do people seriously believe gas is going to go back below $3 a gallon ? LOL.
Austin, Tx after a massive building boom. It's a market. I don't know so many progressives believe their policies are immune to reality because they think they are morally good. if you add millions of people without massive increases in available housing prices will go up. You can't wish your way out of that.
“Do people seriously believe gas is going to go back below $3 a gallon ? LOL.”
that comment will not age well.
The current national average indicates year to year rent decreases are less than 1%
Do you believe gas will be below $3 gallon while the Iran war remains in process?
If not, when do you think the war will end?
And then, when do you think the Strait of Hormuz will be back to the supply state it was in before Trump's ill-conceived and illegal war?
Finally, how many months/years after steady supply is restored will $3 per gallon appear?
In your opinion, of course.
Nope.
no idea.
no idea.
no idea.
however, the claim was “Do people seriously believe gas is going to go back below $3 a gallon ? LOL.”
You have no idea how any of these dynamics work, yet you believe gas will eventually be back to pre-Iran war levels. Given you have 'no idea', what is your belief based on?
The US nat avg isn't the point of the "story"
If the price of gas had only gone to 3.40 or 3.50 I think it could back below 3.00, but it has been 4.50 or higher (over 5 dollars in Chicago recently. The oil lobby will not stand for so much of a drop.
when do you think the war will end?
when do you think the strait of hormuz will be back to pre-war supply state after the war?
so how many months /years will it take after a steady supply is restored to hit $3 a gallon?
History. Are you in the gas will never drop below $3 per gallon camp?
Impossible to predict; who knows what the moron in chief is going to do? But I can predict that it will not end on good terms for the USA since Trump has stupidly pushed Iran into using its Strait of Hormuz option and the regime now knows precisely how powerful it is, how the rest of the planet will react, and the effect on the global economy. Do you recognize that?? Do you recognize that Trump is not just damaging our nation and its citizens, but his actions are hitting you too? Do you recognize that the prices you pay are the result of Trump's incompetence, arrogance, and psychopathy? It is as if he is intentionally doing the opposite of what he promised on the campaign trail. Does that not bother you?
Never. See above. Iran now knows the value of their card and have substantially better information on the hands of the other players.
I do not believe we will ever see $3 a gallon. It might hit $3, but I doubt it. Typically, once price ranges go up they tend to not go back down. Gas prices will continue to oscillate (go up and down) but they will be doing so at a higher average price (i.e. a higher range).
Same with most prices. Do not expect that the cost of living is going to magically go back to where it was before you, et. al. elected Trump. And seriously, do not expect this will happen with Trump as PotUS. You recognize that Trump is not even remotely interested in the needs of the people, right?
I am in no camp. I try to apply critical thinking to situations and follow the facts/evidence, even to conclusions that I greatly dislike. That is the opposite of believing in magic.
Sorry. Wrong. Try again. This time try responding to what I wrote, not the demon in your imagination.
but it's the demon's keyboard...
But we keep hearing some say how good immigration is
Apartments in the center of Lisbon and Rome and Paris being turned into $2,000 a night Air B&Bs has zero to do with immigrant refugees.
20% of population being foreigners is what takes up housing.
Spain and Portugal are popular retirement locals for wealthy Americans and Europeans who are recruited to come there...
The three largest foreign nationalities in 2025 were Moroccan (969,000), Colombian (677,000), and Romanian (609,000). As of 1 January 2023, foreign nationals accounted for 43.5% of Domestic employees ,
https://ine.es/dyngs/Prensa/en/CensoVariables2025.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com
And so far, every single one of them was found to be human
[✘] they [✘] can't see the human forest through all the immigrant trees.
I'm not the one claiming it's wealthy Americans emigrating to Spain. Perhaps you should wonder why some who are apparently embarrassed about who the migrants actually are.
It seems some need to create subcategories of humans and are desperately trying to keep them apart and define them and tell us all who these other humans "actually are". There is no embarrassment without someone naming a group or culture of humans in an effort to stereotype them and keep them separate from themselves, like some psycho getting upset when the pea's touch the mashed potatoes on their plate.
The shortage of housing in the most desirable quarters of European cities has zero to do with poor foreign refugees. They are not driving gentrification. Rich retirees and tourists are. Rich retirees and tourists who are welcome everywhere.
Immigration has a net positive effect on the economy, in the USA and in Spain. Per Chat GPT:
and
As with most every issue there is a nuanced answer to the questions asked. The problem is, too many people want to steer thoughts and opinions "Their Way" instead of looking at the facts as they exist on the ground.
Fuck them. Do the research, don't just opine with what one thinks to be true without looking at the facts.
Right. Immigration benefits the wealthy who have cheap labor to exploit and increases the value of the property and the working people and poor are disproportionally burdened. As your own link says "would be more careful about claiming a precise all-in net benefit after housing, public services, and local costs: the figures above do not calculate that single balance, and the benefits and costs do not necessarily reach the same people."
Who do you believe is claiming that no one benefits from mass migration?
LOL. Your comment is is a great example of trying to change the subject. You can fly those kites alone.
Not at all, it's directly addressing your strawman rebuttal.
The place that is getting rid of problems is the one that benefits the most
So one can infer that Americans do tip the scale in desirable, upscale neighborhoods but not across the whole scale of the Spanish Housing markets in affordable middle or low income rentals of housing.
Just another anti - immigration article, especially if Moroccans or other non whites can be blamed.
It must be another day that ends in "day". /S
On the other hand, the Spanish government and banking institutions welcome non resident mortgages.
Spanish mortgage for non-residents - a complete guide - Your Overseas Home
have the elerly ever been priced out of lifetime NYC apartments? - Search
have the elerly ever been priced out of lifetime Paris apartments? - Search
Missing; any reference to the Moroccan "problem".
Lol. Guess what happens when "upscale housing" becomes scarce? That exerts price pressure on middle income housing because it becomes more scarce. IT works both ways too!
ust another anti - immigration article, especially if Moroccans or other non whites can be blamed.
It must be another day that ends in "day". /S
Just another superficial attempt to dismiss reality by hiding behind simple labels. It must be another day that ends in "day"