Spain’s coalition government has unveiled a package of housing measures, including a proposed ban on evictions until 2030, as 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal weighs an offer that could allow her to return to the home from which she was removed last week.
Hundreds of people remain camped in one of Madrid’s main squares, protesting the eviction of Ms Abascal on Wednesday.
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The wheelchair user was carried out on a stretcher from the apartment where she had lived for 70 years, turning her case into a rallying point for anger over soaring rents and weak protections for tenants.
Supporters say Ms Abascal had never fallen behind on her rent, but the real estate firm that owned the property raised it by 275% to €2,650 a month.
Dozens of tents were pitched at Puerta del Sol in Madrid
Health Minister Monica Garcia said the ruling Socialists had reached an agreement with junior coalition partner Sumar on a decree that would extend contracts until 2028 and bar so-called vulture funds from the housing market. But the minority government faces a difficult effort to win enough support in a divided parliament.
‘Time to intervene’
“It is time to intervene in the speculative housing market and start striking a balance between ordinary citizens and vulture funds,” Ms Garcia wrote on X.
The government will have 30 days after the decree is published to build a consensus with its allies in congress.
Junts, the Catalan pro-independence party whose support is needed for the decree to pass, said an agreement remained distant. The party is seeking stronger safeguards for small landlords, who account for the overwhelming majority of property owners in Spain.
Maricarmen Abascal removed on a stretcher from home she lived in for 70 years
“We all agreed that evictions – where the property is owned by a fund, a vulture fund, run by someone managing millions of euros – obviously need to be stopped,” Junts parliamentary spokesperson Miriam Nogueras said on RTVE.
“Lumping together in this category those who have invested their savings in a flat, a restaurant or a property – putting them all in the same basket – is a mistake,” she added.
Measures approved at a cabinet meeting also included tighter rules for short-term and room-by-room rentals, automatic contract renewals and limits on rent increases, Ms Garcia said.
Ms Abascal’s lawyer said Urba Gestion, the fund that owns her apartment, made a preliminary offer late yesterday that could enable her to move back if she accepts its terms. The proposal would require her to pay 30% of her pension for the next eight years, or about €500 a month.
That amount would be broadly comparable to what she paid before the eviction.
“She should never have been forced to leave,” Beatriz Duro told reporters. “I hope this case serves to provide a collective response to the housing crisis.”
Read more: Housing protest sees tents pitched in Madrid square: ‘We’ll read the small print before we break camp’
