87-year-old woman offered return to home following eviction protests in Spain

MADRID – Spain’s coalition government said it had agreed on proposals including banning evictions until 2030 to address the country’s housing crisis, as the 87-year-old woman whose forced removal last week triggered protests was considering an offer to return home.

Hundreds of people remained camped in one of Madrid’s main squares on Sept 29 to protest against Maricarmen Abascal’s removal from her home on a stretcher six days earlier. They are demanding legal reforms, including a rent freeze and the automatic renewal of leases without abusive rent hikes.

Health Minister Monica Garcia said the ruling Socialists reached an agreement on Sept 29 with junior partners Sumar for a decree. New measures include rolling over contracts until 2028 and banning so-called vulture funds from the housing market, though the minority government faces an uphill battle to secure support in a fragmented Parliament.

“It is time to intervene in the speculative housing market and start striking a balance between ordinary citizens and vulture funds,” she wrote on X.

The government has 30 days from the decree’s publication to reach a consensus with allies in congress. Junts, the Catalan pro-independence party that would need to back the decree for it to pass, said on Sept 29 it was still far from agreeing to it and wanted protection for small landlords, who make up the vast majority of property owners in Spain.

“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 spokeswoman 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.

Other measures approved in a Cabinet meeting on Sept 29 included stricter regulation of short-term and by-the-room lets, automatic renewal of contracts and limiting rent increases, Garcia said.

Abascal’s lawyer said on Sept 29 that UrbaGestion, the fund that owns her apartment, had offered a preliminary agreement late on Sept 28 that could allow her return to her home if she agrees to its terms, which would imply paying 30% of her pension over the next eight years, equivalent to around €500 (S$725) a month.

This would see her paying a similar level as prior to 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.”

The Madrid Tenants’ Union had said Abascal’s monthly rent was earlier hiked by 275 per cent to €2,650. REUTERS