Evicted 87-year-old who became a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis has died

Maricarmen’s Death Deepens Spain’s Housing Crisis Debate

Healfromzero.com – Maria del Carmen Abascal, an 87-year-old Madrid resident whose removal from her longtime home became a rallying point for Spain’s housing movement, has died after spending weeks in hospital. Widely known as Maricarmen, she had lived in the same home for more than seven decades before her eviction on September 23.

The Madrid Tenants’ Union said she died after remaining hospitalized since the eviction. Her case had drawn intense public attention because of her age, her long connection to the home, and the dramatic rise in the rent she was asked to pay.

“We regret to announce that Maricarmen has passed away today. As you all know, she was evicted on September 23, and has remained in hospital ever since,” the union said Wednesday.

Maricarmen lived in Madrid’s affluent Retiro district, in a building owned by a private investment company. Her monthly rent rose from €500, about $560, to €2,650, roughly $2,970. The new amount was beyond the reach of the pensioner, and supporters gathered outside her residence in an effort to stop the eviction.

Despite the crowd at her door, she was removed from the property on a stretcher. Images and accounts of the eviction spread quickly, turning an individual housing dispute into a national symbol of the pressure facing tenants across Spain.

A Return Home Agreed Too Late

Public anger over the eviction led to a major wave of demonstrations. In central Madrid, protesters established a large encampment at Puerta del Sol, where hundreds of tents were set up. The action formed part of a wider demand for stronger responses to rising housing costs and limited availability of homes.

After the protests, the building’s owner agreed that Maricarmen could return to her apartment after leaving hospital. But the agreement came too late for her to move back.

“Although a historic agreement was reached that would have allowed her to return to her home, this solution came too late,” the Madrid Tenants’ Union said.

From hospital last month, Maricarmen sent a message to those who had supported her cause. Her words were brief but became a call for tenants facing similar uncertainty.

“Please fight,” she told supporters. “I send you all a very big hug and thank you for everything.”

Her death prompted an emotional response at the Puerta del Sol encampment. People lit candles, observed a silence and then applauded. Chants included “Maricarmen lives, the fight continues” and “We are all Maricarmen.” Some protesters also shouted, “It’s not a death, it’s murder.”

A group later headed toward parliament, where police barriers and a significant security presence had been put in place. The housing protests have generally remained peaceful, although there have been several confrontations involving demonstrators and police.

Housing Takes Center Stage in the Election Campaign

The case has intensified political pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose government has struggled to advance housing measures through parliament. Sánchez offered condolences to Maricarmen’s relatives and to others mourning her death.

“A hug also to all those who today feel this loss as our own. Rest in peace,” Sánchez wrote on X.

Madrid’s Tenants’ Union, one of the groups involved in organizing demonstrations, said about 950,000 people took part in protests around the country over the weekend. The scale of the mobilization has pushed housing even more firmly to the center of Spain’s political debate.

On Monday, Sánchez called an early election for late November after his government failed the previous week to win parliamentary support for two proposed housing laws. The decision appeared aimed at regaining momentum following the nationwide demonstrations and legislative setbacks.

The Bank of Spain has warned that the country lacks approximately 700,000 homes. That shortage has become a central part of the argument over how Spain should address affordability, tenant protections and access to housing.

“We need to renew people’s support,” Sánchez said Monday. “We need to mobilize and win a much larger progressive majority in parliament, one that will allow us to overcome vested interests, deliver new social advances and continue transforming Spain.”

The conservative Popular Party, which opposed the government’s proposed reforms, leads opinion polls. Its position is that Spain’s housing problems should primarily be addressed by increasing construction rather than relying on additional regulation.

Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo also expressed sympathy for Maricarmen’s family and loved ones, while cautioning against using her death for political advantage.

“No campaign, no parties, no self-interested exploitation. No more stones in the wall,” he wrote on X. “In the face of a person’s death, only respect is in order.”

A Personal Story With National Resonance

Maricarmen’s experience has become closely linked with a broader public concern: whether people who have spent decades in their homes can remain there when rents increase sharply. Her case gave the housing crisis a human face, connecting debates over legislation and construction targets to the lived reality of an elderly tenant forced from a familiar home.

For those gathered in Madrid after her death, the loss did not end the campaign she had come to represent. Their chants and continued protests reflected a determination to keep housing at the center of the election debate, as Spain confronts the gap between available homes and the needs of people seeking affordable places to live.