Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Spain demanding affordable housing and stronger protections for renters, turning a long-simmering affordability crisis into one of the country’s biggest political challenges. The immediate trigger was the eviction of 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for about 70 years, but the anger goes much deeper.
Rents have risen sharply, younger Spaniards increasingly struggle to buy homes, the stock of public rental housing is among the smallest in Europe and demand for accommodation has outpaced supply in many of the country’s largest cities. The crisis intensified further on Friday when Parliament rejected emergency measures proposed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government, and by Saturday, large demonstrations were under way in Madrid and other cities, while protesters in Valencia clashed with police outside a real estate summit.
Why are people protesting now?
Spain’s housing problem has been building for years, but Abascal’s eviction on September 23 provided a powerful human face to the crisis. Abascal, who uses a wheelchair, was removed from her central Madrid apartment after living there for seven decades, with images of the elderly woman being carried from her home on a stretcher broadcast across the country and triggering widespread outrage. The case quickly became about more than one tenant, with protesters using the slogan “Not even one more Maricarmen” and presenting her eviction as an example of what they see as an increasingly unaffordable and insecure rental market.
Around 1,000 protesters have camped in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, while another encampment has emerged in Barcelona’s Plaça de Catalunya, with demonstrators demanding stronger tenant protections, affordable rents and restrictions on evictions where vulnerable tenants have nowhere else to live. Abascal has since reached an agreement allowing her to return to her apartment, but the protests have continued.
How expensive has renting become?
The central problem is straightforward — rents have risen much faster than many household incomes. The average advertised rent in Spain has almost doubled over the past decade, rising from around €8.20 per square metre in 2016 to more than €15 per square metre in 2026. The burden is particularly severe for people who cannot afford to buy property, with government figures showing that 26% of Spanish renters spend an average of 40% of their income on rent and utilities, compared with an EU average of 18% of renters facing a comparable burden.
For younger workers and lower-income households, this makes saving enough money for a home purchase increasingly difficult because such a large proportion of monthly income is already consumed by rent. It creates a cycle in which households unable to buy remain dependent on an increasingly expensive rental market.
Why is Spain particularly vulnerable?
One of Spain’s structural problems is the small size of its affordable and publicly owned rental sector. Government-owned rental properties represent less than 2% of the available housing stock, compared with an EU average of around 8%, leaving the country with little of the public housing buffer that can provide an alternative when private rents increase sharply.
Spain also faces a substantial housing shortage, with construction failing to keep pace with demand in the areas where people most want to live, particularly Madrid, Barcelona, coastal regions and other economically dynamic cities. Population changes, household formation and the concentration of jobs in major urban centres have added pressure, resulting in intense competition for a limited number of available homes.
What role does tourism play?
Tourism has become another contentious part of the debate because Spain is one of the world’s most visited countries and short-term holiday rentals can be considerably more profitable for property owners than conventional long-term leases. Critics argue that platforms such as Airbnb have encouraged some owners in popular destinations to shift properties from residential rentals to tourist accommodation, reducing the number of homes available to local residents.
The impact has become particularly contentious in tourism-heavy areas such as Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca and parts of the Canary and Balearic islands. Tourist rentals, however, are not the sole cause of Spain’s housing shortage: insufficient construction, limited social housing, population growth, migration towards major employment centres, property investment and regulatory constraints all contribute to the imbalance.
What did Sánchez’s government propose?
The uproar following Abascal’s eviction prompted Sánchez’s government to bring forward emergency measures intended to strengthen protections for vulnerable tenants, restrict certain evictions, tackle property speculation and improve rental security. The government sought to extend protections against certain evictions until the end of 2030 and introduce additional safeguards where vulnerable tenants faced losing their homes without alternative accommodation.
Other provisions targeted rental practices, public housing and tax incentives, while another measure sought to provide renters with greater security by allowing automatic renewal of residential tenancy agreements under specified conditions. The government argued that tenants should not repeatedly face uncertainty over whether their leases would be renewed.
Why did Parliament reject the measures?
Sánchez leads a minority government and depends on other parties to pass legislation, making housing reform as much a parliamentary challenge as an economic one. Conservative opposition parties joined forces to reject the measures on Friday, arguing against the government’s approach to regulating the rental market. Critics contend that tighter restrictions on landlords and stronger tenant protections can discourage property owners from offering homes for long-term rent, potentially reducing supply and worsening shortages.
The government and housing campaigners argue instead that immediate protections are necessary because tenants cannot wait for additional housing construction to eventually moderate prices. The dispute therefore reflects the central policy divide in Spain’s housing debate — whether the immediate priority should be stronger regulation and protection for renters or a substantial expansion in housing supply.
Why did the defeat intensify protests?
For protesters, Parliament’s rejection of the measures demonstrated why demonstrations needed to continue. Many had expected the public reaction to Abascal’s eviction to produce immediate protections for vulnerable renters, but instead the proposed measures failed to secure sufficient parliamentary backing while protesters were already mobilising. On Saturday, tens of thousands marched in Madrid, with some demanding a general strike over housing.
In Valencia, the demonstrations became more confrontational when protesters breached a security perimeter around the City of Arts and Sciences, where a real estate summit was being held. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters, while images showed officers using batons and demonstrators throwing barriers. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Why has Maricarmen become a symbol?
Abascal’s case compressed Spain’s complicated housing debate into a single, easily understood story. She was 87, used a wheelchair and had lived in the same home for roughly 70 years, meaning her removal resonated beyond arguments about rents, supply or housing regulation.
After the eviction, Abascal said that although she had failed to defend her own home, she hoped her fight would teach others to defend theirs. The property company involved subsequently reached an agreement allowing her to return to the apartment, and while she remained in hospital, her lawyer said she was happy with the outcome.
For demonstrators, however, the eventual resolution did not settle the wider question, and “Maricarmen” has remained a symbol of a movement demanding greater housing security.
What happens next?
The political stakes are considerable because Spain is due to hold a national election next year and housing has become an increasingly important public issue. The parliamentary defeat has also highlighted the difficulties Sánchez faces in maintaining enough support for his legislative agenda and has fuelled speculation about an early election, although there has been no official confirmation that the Prime Minister intends to call one.
For the government, the immediate challenge is to find housing measures capable of addressing public anger while securing enough parliamentary votes to enact them; opponents, meanwhile, argue that expanding housing supply must remain central to any durable solution. For protesters, the test is more immediate: whether political promises ultimately translate into homes that ordinary renters can afford.