Elderly Spanish Woman Evicted After Rent Hike Sparks Protest
In Madrid, 87‑year‑old Maricarmen was forced from the flat she had called home for 70 years after a sharp rent increase was approved by the investment firm that now owns the property, Urbagestión. The company raised her rent from the capped €500 to a staggering €1,650, a figure far beyond her €1,350 pension.
Two prior court orders had halted eviction attempts, but the latest legal clearance fell through as Urbagestión rejected the company’s offer to pay a large portion of her rent. The eviction was executed on a Wednesday, with police barring the entrance and dispatching batons to quell an angry crowd.
On Tuesday night, a protest assembled outside the building, drawing several hundred supporters, including celebrities such as Ana Belén and Javier Bardem’s brother, Carlos. The crowd chanted “Maricarmen stays” and blocked stairways on the premise of defending a vulnerable resident.
A representative of the tenants’ organization, Sindicato de Inquilinas, shouted through a megaphone: “Think for ten seconds about Maricarmen, who could be your grandmother.”
Maricarmen herself recorded a tearful video on social media, “Thank you for being here against this cruel struggle,” she said, “someone who wants to earn money.”
The case reached the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which called for an immediate halt to the eviction and a suitable affordable housing replacement. The Spanish government noted that the state had offered the elderly home and she declined it.
Housing Minister Teresa Rodríguez framed the eviction as evidence of “unbridled speculation” that keeps rents artificially high. Spain’s capital has seen rental prices double over the past decade, with a 10% rise in the last year alone.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has repeatedly stated the government will “protect those most exposed to speculation.” Critics argue that the rhetoric deters property owners from entering the rental market and that the state must actively build new accommodation to confront the crisis.
