‘Please fight’: How an elderly woman’s eviction put Spain’s housing crisis in the spotlight

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If there’s one name on people’s lips in Spain this week it’s Maricarmen. The eviction of the 87-year-old has sparked a huge wave of spontaneous solidarity in various cities and drawn attention to one of the most pressing problems facing the country: access to housing.

Tens of thousands marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest Maricarmen’s eviction. Some demonstrators camped overnight in Puerta del Sol, where more people, including families of several generations, joined them Sunday, according to the Associated Press. Protesters are demanding stronger tenant protections and a ban on evictions when no other housing is available nearby.

María del Carmen Abascal, known by her nickname Maricarmen, is a resident of Madrid’s El Retiro neighborhood who, until last Wednesday, lived in an apartment on Alcalde Sainz de Baranda Street. She had lived in that home for more than 70 years, her attorney, Beatriz Duro, told CNN.

Fernando Sanchez/Europa Press/Getty Images

Her eviction, which shocked many, took place Wednesday despite the efforts of dozens of people who had waited outside her home since the previous night trying to prevent it.

That afternoon, nearly 10,000 people, according to the Spanish government officials in Madrid, gathered in the capital to protest Maricarmen’s eviction, while also expressing their frustration over the growing difficulties in finding housing.

These concerns and expressions of solidarity protests also took place in other cities such as Barcelona, Seville, and Valencia.

Abascal is currently hospitalized at Gregorio Marañón Hospital, where she was taken on a stretcher immediately after being evicted from her apartment. She is expected to remain there for a couple of days, Duro said, while she awaits some medical tests.

Abascal spoke to supporters via a video Friday after being transferred to a local hospital and urged them to “keep fighting” for their homes.

“I did not manage to defend my home, but I have fought so that others learn to fight for theirs,” she said. “My house has been my life. And now I have to leave it behind. But that does not mean I will not keep fighting.”

“Please fight,” she told supporters. “I send you all a very big hug and thank you for everything.”

Oscar Del Pozo/AFP/Getty Images

Abascal had lived in the same place since 1956. In this apartment, located near El Retiro Park, she grew up and lived with her parents until she inherited and took over their lease from them.

It was an old-style lease under which she paid about $568 (500 euros) per month. However, everything changed when the real estate company Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión acquired ownership of the apartment building for $280,787 (247,000 euros) in March 2018.

That’s when her ordeal began, as shortly afterward the new owner began demanding a rent that was up to four times higher—even though she receives a pension of only $1,478 (1,300 euros), the Madrid Tenants’ Union told CNN.

Consequently, in March 2020, the property company filed a lawsuit seeking the termination of the lease, Duro said. Abascal won the case in the lower court, but the company appealed, and the Provincial Court ruled in its favor.

Faced with this situation, Duro filed a petition for constitutional protection with the Constitutional Court and an appeal with the Supreme Court, but both were dismissed. At the same time, Urbagestión filed a lawsuit to enforce the termination of the lease and thus regain possession of the home, which resulted in up to four eviction attempts.

In October 2025, Abascal’s defense team halted the eviction for four months thanks to a provision in the law that allows for this when the party seeking eviction is a legal entity, Duro said.

In June 2026, when the second date was set, the eviction was suspended for nearly a month due to the tenant’s vulnerable situation—she had no alternative housing. Consequently, it was postponed again until July, but Duro appealed the decision once more.

During this time and until the eviction took place, Abascal’s support network made significant efforts to negotiate with Urbagestión to find solutions that would prevent this outcome. Among other things, Duro noted that mediation was conducted through Casa 47, the state housing agency, to have them purchase the apartment and rent it to her at a more reasonable price.

On Tuesday, before the eviction, an anonymous person offered to pay part of the rent. But the real estate company showed no interest in any of the proposed alternatives, her lawyer said.

CNN has reached out to Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión for comment but has not yet received a response.

Given this situation and with the eviction already carried out, Abascal’s prospects are not very promising. “The situation is desperate,” Duro said. “She has no housing alternative, (..) and she still has not received any kind of proposal or housing alternative from public authorities.”

City Hall reported that, on Friday morning, the real estate company contacted the Madrid Municipal Housing and Land Agency (EMVS) to have the property included in the ReViVa Program—through which City Hall recovers vacant homes to introduce them into the rental market—and thus offer it to Abascal “on affordable terms.”

However, the City Council has rejected this possibility, deeming the proposal unfeasible because it does not meet the program’s legal requirements. They have, however, offered the EMVS Rental Mediation Service so that the company and the tenant can negotiate during a meeting scheduled for Monday, with professionals acting as mediators.

The difficulties in accessing housing—whether to buy or rent—are nothing new in Spain. Protests have multiplied in recent years, and pressure has mounted on both local authorities and the government led by President Pedro Sánchez.

This discontent stems from rising housing prices and is felt particularly acutely in major cities. In Madrid, for example, rent has nearly doubled in a decade, rising from $14.55 (12.8 euros) per square meter in August 2016 to $26.49 (23.3 euros) in August 2026, according to data from the real estate website Idealista .

As for home purchases, the price per square meter has risen by 227.9% in just 10 years—that is, from $3,229 (2,839 euros) per square meter in August 2016 to $7,361 (6,471 euros) in August of this year, according to Idealista .

These prices stand in stark contrast to the country’s average annual salary, which in 2024 was around $33,596 (29,540 euros), according to data from the National Institute of Statistics .

In other words, based on these figures, someone who decides to rent a 50-square-meter apartment in the capital will be spending about $15,894 (13,980 euros) a year on housing, which amounts to nearly half of the average salary.

This financial burden compromises one’s ability to save and cover other expenses. UN-Habitat (the United Nations Human Settlements Program) estimates that, for rent to be considered affordable, less than 30% of one’s income should be spent on it.

The Bank of Spain believes that a large part of this problem stems from a housing shortage that currently stands at around 755,000 homes and could reach one million by 2028.

Given the magnitude of this eviction, the political class has not remained on the sidelines. This is not only because those defending Abascal have directly called them out, but also because politicians themselves have used this episode as a platform from which to defend themselves or attack others.

Speaking at a Socialist Party rally in Madrid on Sunday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed Abascal directly: “I have a message for you, Maricarmen: the government is working around the clock to bring a Royal Decree on housing next Tuesday. And I ask parliamentary groups to make one last effort to have it validated in the National Parliament for Maricarmen,” according to the Associated Press.

Abascal has previously criticized Sánchez and blamed him for her ordeal.

“Does he not realize the quantity of evictions that there are daily?” she asked during an interview with Spain’s state broadcaster RTVE the day before she was forcibly removed from her home. “Does he not realize, or does he not want to realize?”

The Spanish government maintains that it has attempted, through the Ministry of Housing and Casa 47, to purchase the home where Abascal lived in order to provide her with affordable rent. At the same time, it criticizes local and regional authorities for having done nothing to help her.

The president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, passed the buck back to the executive branch led by Sánchez, stating on Thursday morning that the eviction was carried out by National Police officers—“who are managed by the government”—in compliance with a law “that this government and its coalition partners have had eight years to amend if they disagreed with it.”

For their part, the coalition government’s partners—the members of Sumar—are proposing to directly expropriate the home in question. Specifically, both the Second Vice President of the Spanish Government, Yolanda Díaz , and the Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs, and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy , are pushing for the Royal Decree-Law on Housing to be approved at the next Council of Ministers meeting, which would freeze rent prices and halt evictions such as the one that took place on Wednesday.

请阅读西班牙语文章

本周西班牙最热门的话题莫过于玛丽卡门。这位87岁老人的驱逐事件在多个城市引发了自发的声援浪潮，也让人们更加关注西班牙面临的最紧迫问题之一：住房保障。

周六，数万民众走上马德里街头，抗议玛丽卡门被驱逐。据美联社报道，一些示威者在太阳门广场露营过夜，周日又有更多人加入，其中包括几代同堂的家庭。抗议者要求加强对租户的保护，并禁止在没有其他住房可供出租的情况下驱逐租户。

玛丽亚·德尔·卡门·阿巴斯卡尔，昵称玛丽卡门，是马德里丽池区居民，直到上周三，她一直住在阿尔卡尔德·赛恩斯·德·巴兰达街的一套公寓里。她的律师贝娅特丽丝·杜罗告诉CNN，她已经在那里住了70多年。

Fernando Sanchez/Europa Press/Getty Images

尽管数十人从前一天晚上就守候在她家门外试图阻止驱逐，但她还是在周三被驱逐了，这令许多人感到震惊。

当天下午，据马德里西班牙政府官员称，近 10,000 人聚集在首都，抗议玛丽卡门被驱逐，同时表达了他们对住房越来越难找的沮丧之情。

这些表达关切和声援的抗议活动也在巴塞罗那、塞维利亚和瓦伦西亚等其他城市发生。

阿巴斯卡尔目前在格雷戈里奥·马拉尼翁医院接受治疗，她被驱逐出公寓后立即被用担架送往该医院。杜罗表示，她预计将在那里待几天，等待一些医学检查结果。

阿巴斯卡尔周五被送往当地医院后，通过视频向支持者发表讲话，敦促他们“继续为保卫家园而战”。

“我没能保住我的家园，但我奋力抗争，是为了让其他人学会捍卫自己的家园，”她说。“我的房子就是我的生命。现在我不得不离开它。但这并不意味着我会停止抗争。”

她对支持者们说：“请坚持下去。我给你们所有人一个大大的拥抱，感谢你们所做的一切。”

奥斯卡德尔波索/法新社/盖蒂图片社

阿巴斯卡尔自 1956 年以来一直住在这里。这套公寓位于丽池公园附近，她从小就和父母一起生活，直到她继承了父母的租约并接管了他们的公寓。

这是一份老式的租赁合同，她每月支付约 568 美元（500 欧元）的租金。然而，一切都在 2018 年 3 月发生了改变，当时房地产公司 Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión 以 280,787 美元（247,000 欧元）的价格收购了这栋公寓楼。

据 CNN 报道，马德里租户联盟表示，她的磨难就此开始，不久之后，新房东就开始要求涨租，涨幅高达原来的四倍——尽管她每月只领取 1478 美元（1300 欧元）的养老金。

因此，杜罗表示，2020年3月，这家房地产公司提起诉讼，要求终止租赁合同。阿巴斯卡尔在下级法院胜诉，但该公司提起上诉，省级法院最终判决该公司胜诉。

面对这种情况，杜罗向宪法法院提起宪法保护申请，并向最高法院提起上诉，但均被驳回。与此同时，乌尔巴赫斯蒂翁提起诉讼，要求强制终止租赁合同，从而收回房屋，这导致了多达四次的驱逐尝试。

杜罗表示，2025 年 10 月，阿巴斯卡尔的辩护团队利用法律中的一项条款，阻止了驱逐行动长达四个月。该条款允许在寻求驱逐的一方是法人实体时这样做。

2026年6月，第二次确定驱逐日期时，由于租户处境脆弱——她没有其他住所——驱逐令被暂停了近一个月。因此，驱逐令再次被推迟到7月，但杜罗再次对此决定提出上诉。

在此期间直至驱逐发生，阿巴斯卡尔的支持网络做出了巨大努力，与乌尔巴赫斯蒂翁市政府进行谈判，以寻求避免这一结果的解决办法。杜罗指出，他们通过州住房机构Casa 47进行了调解，最终促成该机构购买了这套公寓，并以更合理的价格租给她。

周二，也就是驱逐令颁布前，一位匿名人士提出愿意支付部分房租。但她的律师表示，房地产公司对任何提出的替代方案都毫无兴趣。

CNN已联系Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión征求意见，但尚未收到回复。

鉴于这种情况，加上驱逐已经发生，阿巴斯卡尔的前景并不乐观。“情况非常危急，”杜罗说。“她没有其他住处，（……）而且至今仍未收到任何公共机构的安置方案或替代住房计划。”

市政府报告称，周五上午，这家房地产公司联系了马德里市住房和土地管理局 (EMVS)，希望将该房产纳入 ReViVa 计划——市政府通过该计划收回空置房屋并将其引入租赁市场——从而以“可负担的条件”将其提供给 Abascal。

然而，市议会否决了这一方案，认为该提议不可行，因为它不符合该项目的法律要求。不过，他们提供了EMVS租赁调解服务，以便公司和租户可以在周一举行的会议上进行协商，届时将有专业人士担任调解员。

在西班牙，住房难——无论是买房还是租房——由来已久。近年来，抗议活动不断增加，地方政府和佩德罗·桑切斯总统领导的政府都面临着越来越大的压力。

这种不满源于不断上涨的房价，在大城市尤为明显。例如，根据房地产网站Idealista的数据，马德里的租金在十年内几乎翻了一番，从2016年8月的每平方米14.55美元（12.8欧元）上涨到2026年8月的每平方米26.49美元（23.3欧元）。

据 Idealista 报道，就房屋购买而言，每平方米的价格在短短 10 年内上涨了 227.9%——即从 2016 年 8 月的每平方米 3,229 美元（2,839 欧元）上涨到今年 8 月的每平方米 7,361 美元（6,471 欧元）。

这些价格与该国的平均年薪形成鲜明对比，根据国家统计局的数据，2024 年该国的平均年薪约为 33,596 美元（29,540 欧元）。

换句话说，根据这些数据，在首都租一套 50 平方米公寓的人每年将在住房上花费约 15,894 美元（13,980 欧元），这相当于平均工资的近一半。

这种经济负担会影响人们的储蓄能力和支付其他开支的能力。联合国人居署（联合国人类住区规划署）估计，要使房租被认为是可负担的，房租支出应低于收入的30%。

西班牙银行认为，这一问题很大程度上源于住房短缺，目前住房短缺量约为 75.5 万套，到 2028 年可能达到 100 万套。

鉴于此次驱逐事件的严重性，政界人士并未置身事外。这不仅是因为那些为阿巴斯卡尔辩护的人直接公开谴责了他们，还因为政客们自己也利用这一事件作为平台，为自己辩护或攻击他人。

据美联社报道，西班牙首相佩德罗·桑切斯周日在马德里举行的社会党集会上直接向阿瓦斯卡尔喊话：“玛丽卡门，我有一个信息要告诉你：政府正在夜以继日地工作，争取在下周二颁布一项关于住房问题的皇家法令。我请求各议会党团做最后的努力，争取让这项法令在国民议会获得通过。”

阿巴斯卡尔此前曾批评过桑切斯，并将她所遭受的苦难归咎于他。

“他难道不知道每天有多少人被驱逐吗？”在她被强行驱逐出家门的前一天，她在接受西班牙国家电视台RTVE采访时问道，“他是不知道，还是不想知道？”

西班牙政府坚称，已通过住房部和Casa 47机构尝试购买阿巴斯卡尔居住的房屋，以便为她提供可负担的租金。与此同时，政府批评地方和区域当局没有采取任何措施帮助她。

马德里自治区主席伊莎贝尔·迪亚兹·阿尤索将责任推回给桑切斯领导的行政部门，她在周四上午表示，驱逐行动是由国家警察执行的——“他们受政府管理”——依据的是一项法律，而“如果本届政府及其联盟伙伴不同意这项法律，他们有八年的时间来修改它”。

联合政府的合作伙伴——苏马尔党成员——则提议直接征用涉事房屋。具体而言，西班牙政府第二副首相约兰达·迪亚兹和负责社会权利、消费者事务和2030年议程的部长巴勃罗·布斯廷杜伊都在推动在下次内阁会议上批准《住房皇家法令》，该法令将冻结租金价格并停止类似周三发生的驱逐事件。