On 27 September, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón joined the housing camp at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol and handed out food to young demonstrators. She used the visit to make a wider point about Spain’s housing crisis: access to housing affects people of every age.
The scene had a personal connection, too. Her eldest son, Teo Lucadamo, was among those taking part. Sánchez-Gijón described her presence as a civic responsibility as well as family support, and said the camp revived the spirit and enthusiasm associated with the 15-M movement.
By 10 and 11 October, the Puerta del Sol camp had grown to around 1,800 tents across approximately 12,000 square metres. Protesters had marked out 62 squares and 56 streets, El País reported.
The dispute unfolded amid political pressure over a contested Madrid campsite. The protest began on 26 September after the eviction of Mari-Carmen, a housing activist. It gained further momentum after government housing decrees failed and early elections were announced for 29 November.
RTVE reported that demonstrators refused to step back after the election announcement, arguing that the political timetable did nothing to resolve the underlying housing emergency.
What started as a response to one eviction became a sustained public occupation. Organised spaces and marked-out streets turned the site into temporary civic infrastructure in central Madrid. The camp also became a focus of tension between regional and central authorities.
The High Court of Madrid refused to authorise a forced eviction sought by the regional government. The Government Delegation in Madrid argued that removing the camp could create more security problems than it solved. The State Legal Service said the advantages of such a measure were not sufficiently clear.
The government led by Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso demanded an end to the action, calling it an illegal occupation of public space. Her rhetoric grew more confrontational, including a link between the situation and terrorism. The court’s refusal to approve an immediate eviction allowed the camp to remain and kept the dispute in the national spotlight.
The housing shortage gives the protest’s demands a hard numerical edge. Calculations based on data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute and the Ministry of Housing indicate that roughly 1.22 million new households were created between 2021 and 2025. About 466,000 homes were built during that period, leaving a shortfall of approximately 756,000 housing units.
The gap is particularly visible in Madrid, with Barcelona also affected. Valencia faces the same pressure, as do Alicante and Murcia.
Those figures help explain why Sánchez-Gijón framed housing as a cross-generational issue, not a concern limited to younger protesters. Evictions affect families at different stages of life. Rising rents add further strain, while the shortage of new homes has turned the conflict between Madrid’s regional authorities and Spain’s central government into an institutional dispute.
By the third week of the protest, police were monitoring radical groups around the camp. The action itself continued to be described as predominantly peaceful. The court’s refusal to authorise an immediate dispersal gave demonstrators more time to press the national government and the regional administration for a response.
Sánchez-Gijón’s intervention linked the camp’s immediate demands to the wider housing crisis. Her message focused on evictions and the gap between household growth and construction. She also pointed to rent pressure and decisions by governments at different levels.
