Spain Moves to Ban Evictions Until 2030 After Elderly Woman's Removal Sparks National Outrage

Spain's left-wing coalition government has unveiled a sweeping package of housing measures that would prohibit evictions through 2030, a direct response to the forced removal of an 87-year-old wheelchair user from her Madrid apartment, which ignited protests across the country and thrust the nation's housing crisis into the political spotlight.

The proposals, announced this week, are split across two separate decrees scheduled for a parliamentary vote on Friday. The measures include extending expiring rental contracts and barring so-called vulture funds from operating in the residential housing market. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's minority government, which lacks a legislative majority, faces a difficult path to securing the votes needed for passage.

The political stakes were underscored by Health Minister Monica Garcia, who cast the vote as a defining moment for rival parties. She said right-wing lawmakers must decide whether they stand with citizens or with foreign investment funds, calling on them to demonstrate their patriotism in concrete terms rather than through symbols. Garcia warned that failure to support the measures would carry electoral consequences.

The controversy erupted after Maricarmen Abascal, who had lived in her Retiro neighbourhood apartment for more than seventy years, was carried out on a stretcher by police on September 23. Officers executed the eviction on their fourth attempt, met by hundreds of activists who had gathered outside in solidarity. Abascal had occupied the property under a rent-capped lease originally signed by her father in the 1950s.

The building was purchased in 2018 by Urbagestion, a real estate and investment company that subsequently moved to terminate Abascal's contract. According to reporting by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, the firm raised her monthly rent from 500 euros to 2,650 euros — a figure nearly twice the 1,350 euros she receives each month in pension payments.

Video footage of Abascal's removal spread rapidly across social media, transforming the elderly woman into a national symbol of Spain's mounting housing affordability crisis. Spontaneous demonstrations broke out the same day in front of a luxury penthouse recently acquired by the Madrid regional government, led by Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the conservative People's Party, for purposes that remain unclear. Crowds chanted slogans demanding the penthouse be given to Abascal and denouncing the eviction as a disgrace.

The activist platform known as #Niundesahuciomas, or "Not One More Eviction," organised simultaneous protests in Avila, Barcelona, Cadiz, Oviedo, Sevilla and Valencia. More than 10,000 people took to the streets in total, according to the source article.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Sanchez described evictions as a social tragedy that Spain cannot accept, and placed blame on the local and regional governments in Madrid run by the People's Party. Housing Minister Isabel Rodriguez Garcia characterised the Abascal case as evidence of what she called savage speculation and the rolling out of the red carpet to vultures and speculators.

The government is now seeking to broaden its definition of what constitutes a vulture fund, moving beyond large private equity operations to encompass any fund or company that acquires housing for speculative purposes. Rodriguez Garcia specifically identified Urbagestion, the owner of Abascal's apartment, as an example of a firm that could fall under this expanded category.

Underlying the political battle are stark inequalities in Spanish property ownership. Data from the Bank of Spain, cited by El Pais, shows real estate wealth in the country now exceeds 7.4 trillion euros, but the benefits are highly concentrated. The wealthiest ten percent of households hold roughly one-third of all real estate wealth, while the bottom half of the population owns only about fifteen percent. The number of owners holding two, five or more properties has risen substantially, even as the proportion of small owners with a single property has shrunk.

The proposed reforms have drawn resistance from Junts, the Catalan pro-independence party whose support is likely essential for the decrees to pass. On Tuesday, the party said it remained far from agreement on the full set of measures and demanded protections for small landlords, who constitute the overwhelming majority of property owners in Spain and who would be subject to the same rules as large institutional investors.

Miriam Nogueras, Junts's parliamentary spokesperson, said the current agreement leaves small landlords out in the cold. She acknowledged broad consensus that evictions carried out by large funds managing millions of euros must be halted, but argued that grouping individuals who have invested their savings in a flat or a restaurant together with such funds is a mistake.

Alberto Nunez Feijoo, leader of the conservative People's Party, criticised the government's approach, arguing that eight years of drifting housing policy cannot be corrected with a last-minute decree. His remarks reflect the broader political divide that has turned housing into one of Spain's most contentious issues.

Meanwhile, Abascal's lawyer, Beatriz Duro, said on Tuesday that Urbagestion had offered a preliminary agreement that would allow her client to return home. Under the proposed arrangement, Abascal would pay 30 percent of her pension over the next eight years, amounting to roughly 500 euros per month. The offer, while not yet finalised, suggests a possible resolution to the individual case that sparked a national reckoning.

The outcome of Friday's parliamentary vote will determine whether Spain's government can deliver on its promise to reshape the rental market. With the Socialists dependent on fragile alliances and opposition parties divided over how to balance tenant protections against the interests of smaller property owners, the debate encapsulates the broader tension between housing as a social right and housing as a financial asset.