On September 27, Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, one of the Spanish capital’s most recognizable squares, looked a little different. Instead of the usual crowds of tourists and locals, around 150 tents occupied the public space. People had gathered there to demand something that should not be a luxury: the right to have a place to call home.
The encampment emerged as a popular reaction. On September 23, María del Carmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman known as Maricarmen, was evicted from the apartment where she had lived for more than 70 years. A month after an investment fund acquired the property, her rent had increased from €500 to €1,650 , a price she could not afford on her €1,350 pension. Her eviction became a turning point for a growing movement against Spain’s housing crisis.
Maricarmen died in the hospital on October 7, after suffering from severe anxiety and exhaustion following her eviction. Although her death was not officially attributed to the eviction, her story became a symbol of the insecurity faced by thousands of Spanish renters. The following day, approximately 20,000 people marched through Madrid in her memory, according to The Guardian.
The tents in Puerta del Sol represent more than one woman’s struggle. They reflect a question that has become increasingly difficult to ignore across Spain: how did finding an affordable place to live become so complicated?
How did Spain get here?
Spain’s housing crisis did not begin with Maricarmen’s eviction. Like many European countries, Spain has experienced growing pressure on its housing market, particularly in major cities where employment opportunities, universities and tourism attract an increasing number of people.
The demand for housing has been growing faster than the availability of affordable homes. According to Euronews, the Bank of Spain estimated that the country faced a housing shortage of approximately 550,000 homes in 2025. At the same time, the supply of public and subsidized rental housing remains limited, accounting for less than 2% of Spain’s housing stock, compared with an EU average of around 8%.
The consequences are particularly visible in Madrid, where finding an apartment within a reasonable budget has become a challenge for students, young professionals, families and older people living on fixed incomes.
Several factors contribute to this situation. The construction of new homes has struggled to keep pace with demand, while population growth has concentrated pressure on major urban areas. Tourism and the expansion of short-term rentals have also intensified debates over how housing is used, especially in neighborhoods where residents compete with visitors for a limited supply of properties.
Another important part of the problem is the role of investment in the housing market. When residential properties are treated primarily as financial assets, rather than places for people to live, rent increases and property speculation can make existing neighborhoods increasingly unaffordable for their residents.
Maricarmen’s case illustrates how this process can affect even someone who has lived in the same house for decades. Once the building was acquired by an investment fund, the rent she had previously been paying was no longer financially sustainable. Her situation raises an uncomfortable question: what does it mean to have a right to housing if that right offers little protection against being priced out of your own home?
What are the protesters demanding?
The demonstrations in Madrid are part of a broader movement for housing rights in Spain. While the protesters do not necessarily agree on every solution, their demands center on making rent affordable, strengthening tenant protections and reducing the influence of speculation in the housing market.
The Madrid Tenants’ Union has called for stronger legal protections for renters, including more stable rental contracts and measures to prevent people from being evicted without adequate alternatives. Activists have also demanded restrictions on rent increases and new policies that prioritize residents over speculative investment.
These demands reflect a distinction that is sometimes overlooked in discussions about housing: the problem is not only whether there is enough housing, but whether people can actually afford to live in them.
Building more housing is one possible part of the solution. However, if new properties remain financially out of reach for low-and middle-income households, increasing the overall supply does not automatically guarantee access to affordable homes. The same question applies to existing apartments: if they become increasingly profitable investments, what incentives do owners have to keep rents within reach of the people who already live there?
This is why protesters have called for more public housing and stronger regulation of the rental market, rather than relying exclusively on the private sector to solve the crisis.
Their demands also have a generational dimension. For younger people, high rents can mean postponing moving out of their parents’ homes, delaying financial independence or spending a disproportionate share of their income on accommodation. For older residents, the same pressures can threaten the stability they have spent decades building.
Housing insecurity, in other words, is not confined to one age group. It affects people at different stages of life, even if their experiences of the crisis are not identical.
Are the government’s measures enough?
Spain’s government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has announced several initiatives intended to address the problem. In April 2026, the government approved a €7 billion State Housing Plan for 2026–2030, with a focus on expanding public and permanently affordable housing, and, also, combating speculation.
Following the protests over Maricarmen’s eviction, the government introduced emergency measures in October. These included limits on certain rent increases, incentives to bring vacant homes into the residential market and changes to the taxation of real estate investment companies, with the aim of encouraging more affordable rentals.
However, the political response has been far from straightforward. Previous emergency housing measures were rejected in Congress by right-wing and far-right parties. After the defeat of the proposals, Sánchez called an early general election for November 29, turning housing into one of the central issues of the entire campaign.
The new measures also face a significant obstacle: Spain’s parliament has been dissolved following the election announcement, the emergency decrees must be validated by the parliamentary body responsible for acting during the dissolution. Their long-term impact therefore remains uncertain.
There is a difference between responding to an immediate emergency and changing the conditions that created it. Limits on rent increases can offer relief to some tenants, while tax incentives and penalties for vacant properties may encourage changes in the rental market. However, these policies do not necessarily resolve the shortage of affordable homes or create a large, lasting stock of public housing.
The government’s longer-term housing plan is an attempt to address some of those structural problems. Whether it succeeds will depend not only on the money allocated to it, but also on how many homes are actually built, who can access them and whether they remain affordable over time.
The debate also raises questions about the balance between protecting tenants and encouraging housing investment. Critics of some forms of regulation warn that restrictive policies can discourage landlords from offering properties for rent, meanwhile, supporters of stronger regulation argue that housing cannot be treated like any other commodity, because everyone needs somewhere to live. Understanding the effects of these policies requires looking beyond their announcements and examining the results they produce.
What happens next?
Maricarmen’s eviction became a national turning point because it gave a face to a crisis that is often discussed through statistics. Her story showed how housing insecurity can affect someone who has lived in the same place for most of her life, and how quickly a familiar home can become financially inaccessible.
Yet the challenge facing Spain extends far beyond one apartment in Madrid. A lasting solution would need to address the shortage of affordable housing, strengthen protections for renters and ensure that people are not forced out of their communities simply because rent prices have gone up and they can no longer afford to stay living there.
The coming months will be important for the housing movement. With an early election approaching and housing at the center of political debate, the government’s proposals will face renewed scrutiny. The outcome could shape not only the future of housing policy, but also how Spanish voters judge their political leaders.
For the protesters in Puerta del Sol, however, the issue is more immediate. A tent can draw attention to a housing crisis, but it cannot replace a home. The question that remains is whether the political response will be strong enough to ensure that fewer people have to choose between paying rent and maintaining a decent standard of living.
Maricarmen’s story has already become part of Spain’s public debate. What remains to be seen is whether the movement that grew around it can turn that attention into lasting change.
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The article above was edited by Nina Simonetti.
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