María del Carmen Abascal eviction ended with a preliminary deal that will let the 87-year-old return to the Madrid apartment she had occupied for seven decades. She was carried out on a stretcher on Wednesday and has been hospitalized since then.
Beatriz Duro said Tuesday that the proposal limits Abascal’s rent to 30% of her income, meaning she will not pay more than 500 euros ($570) a month. The agreement came Monday night with the company that owns the building in the Retiro neighborhood.
Retiro apartment deal
Spanish media reported that Abascal’s father first rented the property in 1956, and the building changed ownership in 2018. Abascal was offered the chance to buy the apartment but could not afford it, and Urbagestión later raised her monthly rent from 500 euros to 2,650 euros before lowering it to 1,650 euros.
The arrangement gives her a way back into the apartment without restoring the earlier rent level. Duro told reporters, “The proposal limits her rent to 30% of her income, meaning she will not pay more than the 500 euros ($570) per month she paid previously.”
Puerto del Sol protests
The eviction became a rallying point for housing protests after the Madrid Tenants’ Union organized Saturday’s demonstration and protesters camped out in Puerto del Sol in Madrid. Smaller encampments also appeared in Seville, Málaga, Santiago de Compostela and Palma de Mallorca.
Those protesters are demanding stronger protections for tenants, measures to combat fraud and a ban on evictions when alternative housing is unavailable. Spain already has a 2023 housing law that regulates rents and protects tenants, including rent caps in high-demand areas at the request of local governments, yet the protests are pressing for tougher limits.
Spain's housing crisis
Spain’s left-wing coalition government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, is expected to present its decree at a news conference at 4 p.m. ET. The timing matters because the eviction case has become one of the clearest examples linking one tenant’s loss of a home to wider anger over rising costs and a shortage of housing.
Pope Leo XIV also weighed in on Monday, saying, “Maybe we have to insist that political leaders, authorities find a solution to this, because it’s obviously increasing and oftentimes we only react in the moment of an emergency. But we have to try to see what the systemic cause of the problem is and how to help.”
