The Eviction that Shook a Nation
On 23 September 2026 police forced their way into the Madrid flat of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87‑year‑old wheelchair user, after a judge upheld her eviction. The operation was met with teargas as demonstrators, including actor Carlos Bardem, gathered outside. Abascal was taken to hospital suffering from anxiety and extreme exhaustion, while her supporters chanted, “You are not alone.” The incident quickly became a flashpoint for a broader anger over Spain’s housing shortage.
A Life Lived in One Flat
Abascal had occupied the same apartment for more than seventy of her eighty‑seven years. In 2018 the property firm Urbagestión purchased the unit, ending her long‑standing rent‑controlled arrangement and raising her monthly charge from €500 to €2 650 – a sum far beyond her pension. The Spanish Supreme Court upheld the firm’s claim that the tenancy was invalid because the original 1956 lease, signed by her father under Franco’s discriminatory laws against women, had been transferred twice. After her hospitalisation, Madrid city council mediated an agreement that allowed her to return home, with rent restored to roughly the €500 she had paid for decades.
Political Response and the New Housing Bill
The outcry prompted Pedro Sánchez’s minority coalition to unveil a housing bill on Tuesday, aiming to ban evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, cap rent increases for two years and prohibit investment funds from buying residential property for the same period. The legislation must be approved by parliament within the next month. Sánchez’s reliance on a patchwork of supporting parties has previously limited his room for manoeuvre; his left‑wing partner Sumar had pressed for similar reforms earlier but were shelved until the public pressure mounted. Meanwhile, the Madrid regional government, led by conservative Isabel Díaz Ayuso, had refused to apply existing national rent‑limitation laws, using the case to criticise the national administration instead.
Why it Matters
Abascal’s ordeal has turned a personal tragedy into a national rallying cry, exposing the gap between Spain’s constitutional guarantee of “decent and adequate” housing and the reality faced by pensioners, single mothers and low‑paid workers. If the proposed bill becomes law, it could mark a turning point in how the state curbs speculative practices and protects those most at risk of displacement. The episode shows that, without urgent political will, the human cost of unaffordable rents will continue to rise, threatening the social fabric of communities across the country.
