Elderly Woman Evicted in Madrid Highlights Spain's Housing Crisis

Thu Sep 24 2026 00:24:01 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

An 87‑year‑old Madrid resident was forced out of her home after a landlord raised rent by 4‑fold, sparking protests and exposing the country’s housing shortage.

Maricarmen, who had lived in her Madrid flat for 70 years, was evicted after her landlord, the investment firm Urbagestión, cut her rent from €500 to €2,650. Even after a reduction to €1,650, her pension of €1,350 was insufficient. The eviction provoked a city‑wide protest, drawing in celebrities and activists. A UN committee called for her protection, while the government argued it had offered her an elderly care home. The incident underscores the steep rise in Spanish rents and the pressure on vulnerable populations.

Maricarmen’s 70‑year life in a Madrid flat ends in a courtroom‑ordered eviction

The dramatic removal of 87‑year‑old Maricarmen from the flat she had called home for seven decades has thrust a stark picture of Spain’s housing shortage into public debate.

Maricarmen’s landlord, investment firm Urbagestión, inherited the property in 2018 and, citing a legal loophole, hiked her rent from €500, the amount set when her parents rented the home in 1956, to €2,650. A subsequent reduction to €1,650 left her unable to keep up with the cost, as her pension totals only €1,350 a month.

Three prior eviction attempts were halted by the courts, yet authorities landed a court order on Maricarmen’s door on Wednesday. Supporters of the woman staged a protest outside the building, joined by high‑profile figures such as Carlos, brother of Javier Bardem, and singer Ana Belén, who recited a poem about eviction by Rafael Alberti.

The protest grew to several hundred people—largely young activists—chanting “Maricarmen stays.” Some demonstrators blocked the stairwell as police escorted Maricarmen out, striking protestors with batons. A representative of the tenants’ organisation Sindicato de Inquilinas called the police presence “military” and urged them to pause and think of a senior citizen who could be one’s grandmother.

Maricarmen’s lawyer, Beatriz Duro, noted it was the fourth eviction attempt, the first time the police stepped to the property’s entrance. She described the police deployment as a disproportionate, “cruel struggle” that turned on an individual seeking a rental profit.

In June, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights urged that Maricarmen’s eviction be halted and that she receive “affordable alternative accommodation.” The Spanish government informed the committee that Maricarmen had declined a state‑provided care‑home offer, while the central government highlighted that Urbagestión had already rejected four negotiation attempts.

The debate arrives amid soaring rental prices in Spain’s cities. In Madrid, rentals have risen more than 100% over the past decade, and the National Institute of Statistics records a fresh 10% jump this year. Housing Minister Teresa Rodríguez condemned the speculators’ “unbridled” exploitation, calling the eviction a vivid illustration of the problems caused by unchecked real‑estate speculation.

While the socialist‑led government under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez targets firms that inflate rents, critics argue that the rhetoric is discouraging homeowners from putting their properties back on the housing market, worsening the shortage and tightening the supply of affordable units.