Phoenix 24
One eviction has become a national test of housing policy.
Madrid
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has promised to bring a new housing decree before the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, September 29, as public pressure intensifies following the eviction of 87 year old Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for roughly seven decades. Speaking at a PSOE event in Getafe, Sánchez described the housing crisis as a matter of humanity and urged parliamentary groups to support the measure when it reaches Congress. His announcement comes after Maricarmen personally called for legislative action from the hospital.
The eviction has become a catalyst for broader anger over housing affordability and tenant protections. Around 150 tents were erected in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol after a demonstration organized by the Sindicato de Inquilinas, whose members are demanding stronger restrictions on evictions and measures to control rental costs. The encampment has adopted the slogan “Ni una Maricarmen más” as organizers press the government for structural changes rather than a narrowly targeted response to one case.
Negotiations over the decree remain politically sensitive. Among the measures under discussion are restrictions on evicting tenants from properties controlled by investment funds and additional barriers to further acquisitions of residential housing by such entities. Sumar has also advocated expropriating Maricarmen’s former apartment to allow her to return, although Justice Minister Félix Bolaños has argued that this approach lacks a clear constitutional basis.
The opposition has framed the episode differently. Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo accused the government of using Maricarmen’s case politically and pointed to broader housing pressures after years of rising purchase and rental prices. Podemos, meanwhile, has criticized negotiations with Junts and demanded that the decree preserve stronger tenant protections rather than emerge in a diluted form.
The legal dispute surrounding Maricarmen’s apartment remains unresolved. Madrid’s municipal housing company rejected a proposal that could have allowed her return through the ReViVa program, arguing that the arrangement did not comply with the applicable legal requirements. Separate mediation efforts are continuing.
Tuesday’s decision will therefore carry significance beyond one eviction. It will test whether a highly visible individual case can be converted into durable housing policy, while exposing the competing approaches to property rights, tenant protection and public intervention that continue to divide Spanish politics.
Phoenix24: claridad en la zona gris. / Phoenix24: clarity in the grey zone.