Elderly Madrid tenant evicted amid rising rents highlights Spain's housing shortage

An 87-year-old resident of a Retiro-area flat in Madrid was forced out after the investment firm that bought the building raised her rent from €500 to €2,650, later reduced to €1,650, a level she could not meet with her €1,350 pension. The property was originally rented by her father in 1956 and she had lived there for seven decades under a rent cap that was removed when the firm Urbagestión acquired the building in 2018.

Supporters, including public figures, gathered outside the building to protest the eviction, chanting for her to stay and reading a poem by Rafael Alberti. Police cordoned the street, removed protesters and media personnel, and used batons to disperse the crowd.

"Think for 10 seconds about Maricarmen, who could be your own grandmother," a tenant-rights group representative shouted.

"There is a police deployment as if this were a military operation," said Maricarmen's lawyer, Beatriz Duro, adding that the force used was disproportionate.

"Today is a very sad day, a very dramatic day, when it's plain to see the effects of unbridled speculation, of not wanting to control the market, of putting out the red carpet for the vultures and the speculators," Housing Minister Teresa Rodríguez said.

The United Nations committee on economic, social and cultural rights previously called for the eviction to be halted and for affordable alternative housing, but the local government reported that the pensioner declined an offer of a care-home placement. An anonymous donor reportedly offered to cover most of the rent, but the offer was rejected by the owner.

Spain has seen rental prices more than double in the past decade, with a 10% rise in the last year, according to a property portal. The government has pledged to curb speculative investment and protect vulnerable tenants.