Maribel is certain the spiral began with the mortgage crisis. She moved to number 8 Ermengarda Street in Barcelona's Hostafrancs district in 2007. She was working as a chambermaid and decided to buy the flat. Years later, she became unemployed and became one more victim of the real estate bubble. "I earnt €740 and, if I paid the mortgage, I could pay neither utilities nor housing taxes, and it was impossible," she explains to ARA. After years of anguish, he was able to get the debt signed off in exchange for the flat and got social rent thanks to the Catalan housing law 24/2015, which forces large landlords - those who have more than 10 properties - to offer affordable rent to vulnerable people before evicting them.