Evicted the 87-year-old neighbor from Madrid from whom they were demanding a rent of 1,650 euros

MadridThe eviction of Maricarmen, an 87-year-old resident of Madrid who uses a wheelchair, was carried out this Wednesday in what was the fourth attempt to force her out of her home. Although since this Tuesday afternoon hundreds of neighbors and members of the Tenants' Union of the Spanish capital had gathered and camped outside the building, the National Police riot squad executed the eviction order, which led to moments of maximum tension: the Union denounced the use of "violence" by the police with blows against the protesters, as well as the use of pepper spray. The property owner, the investment fund Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión S.L., proposed a rent increase of up to 1,650 euros that Maricarmen could not afford: she has a pension of 1,350 euros and until now was paying 500 euros in rent—she had an old rent contract. Despite attempts at negotiation, the fund remained firm. Now, the resident does not know where she will go and, for the moment, the Madrid City Council has assured that she has an "emergency spot" in a care home.

It is the harshest face of an emergency that has been hitting the State for some time and has triggered an exchange of political accusations. The Spanish government is pressuring the Community of Madrid and the City Council for their inaction, and left-wing partners are demanding the immediate recovery of the Spanish executive's housing decree, which incorporates an anti-eviction measure and which the PP, Vox, and Junts struck down at the time. In fact, Maricarmen's eviction coincides with the report by the Barcelona Renters' Union regarding the suicide of Olga, a woman from L'Hospitalet, a few months after having been evicted. At the same time, this Monday saw the eviction of Sílvia Sanz from her apartment in the Gràcia neighborhood (Barcelona), where she had lived for 13 years. Social organizations have been demanding for months the recovery of the anti-eviction moratorium for vulnerable tenants to avoid situations like these.

A blocked decree

The anti-eviction moratorium was in effect until December 31, 2025, and the Spanish government proposed its extension in an omnibus decree (it incorporated fiscal and energy measures due to the war in Ukraine and later in the Middle East). The right wing in Congress (PP, Vox, and Junts), however, struck it down. Later, the government tried again by breaking up the text (it separated the measures strictly linked to housing), but it did not prosper either. Everyone expected that in the last Council of Ministers before the summer holidays, the Spanish government would approve it again, but the Moncloa decided to leave it for September. The right wing's argument is that private landlords should not have to assume the housing emergency of those who cannot afford rent increases and that it should be the State that provides the alternative. However, the waiting lists in the administration are saturated.

"I don't know what Pedro Sánchez's government is doing, but it is exactly the opposite of what was expected of them when people voted for them on July 23, 2023. I don't understand this police deployment; it has been a brutal violence against the activists, against Mari Carmen herself," stated the leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, in the corridors of Congress.

"Today is a turning point," affirmed the spokesperson for Sumar in Congress, Ernest Urtasun, who demanded "the set of political forces" support a decree that, in his opinion, should be approved as early as next week in the Council of Ministers. In fact, Urtasun said that it is being "negotiated" with all forces. "We don't have time," he insisted. Minister Pablo Bustinduy (Sumar) reproached the PSOE for not having done it sooner: "It is an agreement announced at the Moncloa [in July] and it has not been fulfilled, and the results are these. It cannot wait any longer".

The Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, has also appealed to the partners of the investiture bloc, for whom Maricarmen's case opens a new front. Rodríguez has criticized the Madrid government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP), as well as the City Council, for laying out a "red carpet" for investment funds like those that have acquired the Madrid resident's home. This Tuesday, in fact, the Community inaugurated The District fair, the international real estate investment meeting that left Barcelona last year due to social pressure. Meanwhile, PP leaders in Congress downplay the housing drama. They speak of a particular case and appeal for the construction of housing

A case that began eight years ago

In 2018, the family that owned the building sold the entire property to Renta Corporación, one of the largest real estate groups in the country. At that time, they proposed to Maricarmen that she purchase the apartment, but she could not afford the price they were demanding. It was at this moment that the investment fund and the problems appeared. Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión S.L. first proposed a rent increase of up to 2,650 euros. "I refuse to leave. I will fight," the neighbor claimed some time ago.