Spain housing protests spread as Madrid encampment grows

Housing protesters camping in Madrid's Puerta del Sol entered their fourth day in the open on Tuesday, awaiting details of the Spanish government's plan to address a crisis that has drawn tens of thousands onto the streets in recent days.

The encampment, set up on Saturday, has grown steadily, with more tents appearing in the central square. Smaller protest camps have emerged in cities including Seville and Málaga in the south, Santiago de Compostela in the north and Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, drawing international attention to an issue that has simmered for years.

The demonstrations were triggered by the eviction of María del Carmen Abascal, 87, who was carried out on a stretcher from the apartment where she had lived for seven decades. She has been hospitalised since Wednesday.

A preliminary agreement reached on Monday night with the company that owns the building in the upscale Retiro neighbourhood will allow her to return home. Her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, said the proposal caps her rent at 30% of her income, meaning she will pay no more than the 500 euros ($570) a month she previously paid.

Spanish media reported that Abascal's father first rented the property in 1956, and she continued as tenant after her parents died, during which time a rent cap applied. The building changed ownership in 2018, and she was offered the chance to buy the apartment but could not afford it, according to the Madrid Tenants' Union, which organised Saturday's protest.

Urbagestión, an investment fund that later bought the unit, raised her monthly rent from 500 euros to 2,650 euros, then lowered it to 1,650 euros — still beyond what she could pay from her pension, the union said.

Rising costs and a housing shortage are pricing many Spaniards out of the market despite strong growth in Europe's fourth-largest economy. Protesters are demanding stronger tenant protections, measures to combat fraud and a ban on evictions when no alternative housing is available.

Spain has had a housing law since 2023 that regulates rents, protects tenants and allows rent caps in high-demand areas at the request of local governments.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's left-wing coalition government is expected to present its decree at a news conference at 1100 GMT.

Asked about the situation on Monday, Pope Leo XIV said it underscored the need for political leaders to find solutions to the housing crisis affecting many communities.

"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," he said, after acknowledging he was not familiar with the case. "But we have to try to see what the systemic cause of the problem is and how to help."