Vox leader Abascal says a Maghrebi family should not be in Spain after a Vitoria housing dispute. The family has six children and was reported to receive about €2,500 a month in public aid while staying in a flat after its rental contract expired.
The owners of a flat in Vitoria had to move into a room elsewhere while the family staying in their property remained there after its rental contract expired. The dispute involved a three-bedroom, 84-square-metre flat in the Sansomendi neighborhood, rented in 2018 for €600 a month under a three-year contract. When the contract ended in 2021, the owner said he needed the property as his family’s only home. Abascal has used the dispute to argue against public support for people he says should not be in Spain.
The Vox leader said the Moroccan-origin family had six children and received about €2,500 a month in public aid. Municipal information cited in reporting put the monthly assistance at €2,454. He called the arrangement unfair to taxpayers and said the owners had been left in a vulnerable position. The owner was living in a rented room with his wife and child, with another child on the way; reports said he had moved through three rented rooms during the dispute.
The property dispute continued through successive legal challenges for about five years after the contract expired. Municipal assessments reportedly recognized the owner as socially vulnerable in 2025 and economically vulnerable several months before the eviction. The eviction took place on Friday, 23 October 2026, amid protests and police intervention. Vitoria-Gasteiz offered emergency shelter as an accommodation option rather than another municipal dwelling. The Social Policies Department assesses emergency reception individually.
Abascal criticized politicians, arguing that people who go to another country intending to live on public assistance should leave. He also advocated re-emigration, saying politicians had presented migration as a way to support pensions while, in his view, newcomers were receiving social aid that Spanish residents could not access.
The Vitoria case involves a housing dispute and public assistance. It is separate from targeted birth and adoption support such as Madrid’s grant scheme.
