Police carried 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal out of her Madrid home on a stretcher on September 23. She uses a wheelchair and is now homeless. An investment fund bought her building and raised her rent from €500 to as much as €2,650 a month, then reduced it to €1,650. Her eviction has put Spain's government and its uneasy allies under pressure to act on housing, leaving Pedro Sánchez and his coalition unable to ignore the case.
On Saturday, crowds filled Madrid’s streets. Protesters criticized regional leaders, including Isabel Díaz Ayuso and José Luis Martínez Almeida. They also called out the national government. Their demand was blunt: pass a decree to stop more evictions like Maricarmen’s. Government sources say the decree will go to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. Delay is off the table. The political cost is too high.
Estimates of the protest turnout varied widely. Madrid authorities reported around 25,000 participants, while tenant unions and organizers claimed as many as 300,000 joined the demonstrations, France 24 reported. Police carried Abascal out on a stretcher and clashed with protesters, fueling public outrage and calls for urgent housing reform, Reuters reported.
But agreement remains far off. Sumar and Podemos want tough measures, including expropriations and a total rent freeze. PNV and Junts are pushing for changes to land laws, along with tax breaks for landlords. These differences have blocked progress for months. With elections coming and the public watching, no party wants to be blamed for failure. The mood has shifted: no one wants to stand in the way.
Housing has divided Spanish politics for years, fueling protests and splitting lawmakers. Maricarmen’s story has forced the government to act. Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez has spent months in talks and says the new decree will bring real changes. The details are still being worked out, but the urgency is clear. Time is short.
Past housing deals have barely cleared the legislature. The last major law passed at the last minute. This time, the stakes are higher. One government member put it plainly: “We’ve had a right-wing majority all term. The housing crisis exploded with that majority in Congress. When we had a progressive majority, we managed to pass the first housing law of the democracy. It’s a good law, but the problem is that PP-led regions refuse to implement it. Where it is applied, like in Catalonia, prices have stabilized, unlike in Madrid.”
The company behind Maricarmen’s eviction has tried to offer a solution. Public anger forced it to respond, but she remains homeless. The pressure is so strong that even PP and Vox, usually quick to attack government plans, have softened their tone. They are still expected to vote no, but their rhetoric has changed.
Sumar has drawn a line: “The PSOE cannot keep sitting on the fence. On Tuesday, the Council of Ministers must approve effective measures against the housing crisis. No more half-measures. The solutions have been on the table for months: reinforced rental extensions and protection for families against evictions and vulture funds. The government must regulate speculative uses, including tourist flats and fraudulent seasonal rentals, and recover Maricarmen’s home. Rental contracts must renew automatically. We stood firm six months ago and will do so again if necessary. Society will not accept partial or watered-down responses to the drama of evictions and the urgent housing crisis.”
For the PSOE’s left, housing is more than policy; it is part of their identity. The anti-eviction movement helped Ada Colau rise to power and now shapes Sumar’s demands. The choice is stark: risk a bold decree that might fail in Congress but signal clear intent, or settle for a deal with enough votes from Junts and PNV to show that Maricarmen’s case shifted the majority. Neither option is easy.
Minister Rodríguez and her team are betting on a deal. For the first time in months, they see a real chance of success. Maricarmen Abascal has shifted the political calculus.
From her hospital bed, Maricarmen sent a message: “This is a message for Pedro Sánchez, but also for everyone who has supported me these days. I want what happened to me to serve so it doesn’t happen to others. I want it to inspire people to fight and to change the laws that allowed my eviction.”
Even Junts, after months of denying talks, now acknowledges negotiations and spells out its demands. The effect of Maricarmen’s case is spreading. Support for housing intervention is strong in Catalonia. The story reaches beyond Madrid.
The government is racing to finish the decree, and no one wants to face voters as the party that failed on housing. One woman’s eviction has forced Spain’s leaders to confront a crisis they had kept putting off. Millions live with housing insecurity, and the decree could change their situation. If the government passes it on Tuesday, Maricarmen’s case will have helped force the system to listen.
