Hundreds camp in Madrid square to demand housing reform after 87-year-old’s eviction

Around 600 people continued camping in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square on Monday, demanding action against evictions and soaring housing costs after an elderly woman was forced from her longtime home.

“It’s tough, but this is growing. With every minute, every hour that passes, there are more tents, more people, more determination, more hope, more expectations and more strength to achieve everything we set out to do,” Gonzalo Alvarez, a spokesman for the Madrid tenants’ union organizing the protest, told Spanish news agency EFE Monday.

EFE estimates that around 350 tents have been set up.

The protest was sparked by the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen, who had lived in her home for 71 years.

With a monthly pension of €1,400 ($1,590), she had never stopped paying her longstanding rent and bills, which totaled around €500 a month, according to Spanish daily El Pais.

A property company bought her home in 2018 and later sought to raise the rent to €2,650, reducing its demand to €1,650 during negotiations -- still more than her pension.

Police forcibly removed her on Wednesday as hundreds of protesters tried to prevent the eviction. She has reportedly been staying in a hospital since then.

Demonstrations continued in the days that followed, with protesters setting up camp in Puerta del Sol on Saturday to press for immediate government action.

“We demand that the government move toward a new housing model in which housing is a right and not a business for a few,” Fernando de los Santos, a spokesman for the Madrid tenants’ union, told broadcaster Cadena SER on Monday.

The union is calling for indefinite rental contracts, regulation of room rentals, an end to excessive rent increases and stronger protections against evictions. It also wants action against practices such as landlords withholding deposits or failing to carry out repairs.

The government has said it is working “against the clock” to approve a housing decree on Tuesday, reviving measures from legislation that failed to pass parliament in July.

Negotiations include support for young homebuyers, protections for public housing and restrictions on investment funds buying residential properties. Tax measures affecting landlords, tenants, tourist rentals and the construction of permanently protected affordable housing are also under discussion.

However, Monica Garcia, a politician from the governing coalition’s Sumar alliance, said the sides remained far from an agreement that would meet people’s needs.

“Half measures and stopgap fixes are no longer enough. You are either with speculation or with families,” she wrote.

The protests came amid a prolonged surge in housing prices. Prices nationwide have more than doubled since early 2014, while those in the Madrid region have risen to around 2.3 times their level since then, according to national statistics institute figures reported by El Pais in August.

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