Demonstrators camping out in a key Madrid square promised today to keep up the pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez over Spain’s housing crisis, with the 87-year-old woman at the center of the protest calling on them to “hold on”.
Tens of thousands of people came to the streets of the capital on Saturday demanding action to decrease housing costs and safeguard tenants, AFP reports, and about 100 tents have been set up in the busy Puerta del Sol square.
The action was ignited by the eviction Wednesday of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her lifetime flat in Madrid.
“I call on all of you to be brave, to fight, to defend what is ours,” said Abascal in a video published by the Madrid Tenants’ Union on X.
Since her eviction she had been in hospital and had become a figurehead of the protest against Spain’s soaring house costs.
The prime leader, who has faced criticism even from his own side for not controlling prices since he came to power in 2018, will submit a new measure tomorrow.
He asked other political parties to support the law, which is expected to include measures such as the automatic renewal of rental contracts and further limitations on evictions.
Sanchez’s party does not have a majority in Spain’s parliament, however, and it is unclear whether the package will be accepted. A similar bill failed earlier this year.
“We are demanding this decree-law to be approved to defend the right to housing and to stop evictions,” said Carlota, 29, one of the protesters who spent the nite amid the tents pitched in the tourist square.
“We’re in a serious situation in Spain right now,” added the woman, calling for “an end to putting capital and investment funds before people”.
confused tourists
According to the Tenants Union, Abascal was forced to move out of the flat where she had resided for 70 years after a real estate company bought the building and jacked up the rent by 275 percent to 2,650 euros ($3,000).
The housing situation has come to the fore as the country heads toward elections next year, with fury sparked by pictures of Abascal being carried on a stretcher from her home after police smashed in her door.
“I have a friend whose mother, 65 years old, had to move back in with her because she couldn’t pay her rent anymore, which was just raised,” said Beatriz Blanco, 37, self-employed, who told AFP she had been through a similar situation in her own group.
Prices are ‘insane’
“Totally insane” was how she described housing prices across the country.
The average rental cost per square metre across the country has nearly quadrupled over the previous decade, hitting 15.10 euros ($17.05) per square metre in August, real estate portal Idealista said. Official numbers show it is now 2,355 euros for buyers, an increase of more than 50 percent over the same period.
“It’s a totally unsustainable situation,” added Blanco, who said she was prepared to stay in the camp “at least for another night”.
The beleaguered Sanchez was due to visit a social housing scheme in Barcelona on Monday afternoon. He is slated to attend an awards ceremony there in the evening, when a rally is also expected near the Congress Palace.
Following a cabinet meeting, he stated his government will work “day and nite” to unveil additional housing measures as early as Tuesday (tomorrow).
Activists and demonstrators will be watching those steps closely.
“We have to send a very strong message,” said Miriam Bue, spokesman for the Spanish tenants’ group, to our correspondent.
“I don’t expect anything from the right-wing Popular Party,” said Bue, who is the head of housing policy for the Madrid regional authority.
Rather, she hopes the left-wing central government will embrace her organisation’s plan to create “open-ended rental contracts” in place of the present five-year contracts.
“Otherwise we will pick up our movement,” she warned.
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