MADRID — Thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid on Saturday to protest against Spain’s housing crisis and ask for protective measures for tenants, anti-fraud rules, and a ban on evictions without alternative housing.
Courts blocked three previous attempts to evict her. Extensive media coverage turned Abascal into a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis. Rising costs and a housing shortage are pricing many Spaniards out of the market , despite strong economic growth in Europe’s fourth-largest economy. Incomes have not kept pace. Analysts say tourism and immigration-driven population growth in cities have placed further pressure on the limited housing supply.
The latest protest about housing was sparked by the dramatic eviction on Wednesday of an 87-year-old woman from the Madrid apartment she had lived in for decades. The building changed ownership in 2018, and Abascal was offered the opportunity to buy the apartment but could not afford it, according to the Madrid Tenants’ Union, which organized Saturday’s protest . Spain ranks near the bottom of countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for public rental housing, which represents less than 2% of its available supply. The European Union average is 8%.
Spain previously built homes with public funds that were later sold into private ownership, removing them from the public housing stock.
