Thousands march in Madrid to protest Spain's housing crisis after eviction of 87-year-old woman

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MADRID (AP) — Thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid on Saturday to protest against Spain's housing crisis and ask for protective measures for tenants, anti-fraud rules, and a ban on evictions without alternative housing.

The latest protest about housing was sparked by the dramatic eviction on Wednesday of an 87-year-old woman from the Madrid apartment she had lived in for decades.

Taken out of her home on a stretcher in the upscale Retiro neighborhood, María del Carmen Abascal was greeted by protesters and supporters as she was loaded into an ambulance.

Spanish media reported that Abascal’s father first rented the property in 1956 and she continued as the tenant after her parents died, during which time there was a rent cap.

The building changed ownership in 2018, and Abascal was offered the opportunity to buy the apartment but could not afford it, according to the Madrid Tenants’ Union, which organized Saturday's protest.

Urbagestión, an investment fund that later bought the unit, raised her monthly rent from 500 euros ($570) to 2,650 euros. It subsequently lowered the rent to 1,650 euros, which Abascal still could not afford on her pension, the union said.

Courts blocked three previous attempts to evict her. Extensive media coverage turned Abascal into a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis.

“I haven’t managed to defend my home, but I have fought so that others can learn to fight for what’s theirs,” Abascal said in a video shared on Friday by the tenants’ union. The video was recorded from her hospital bed after the eviction.

Rising costs and a housing shortage are pricing many Spaniards out of the market, despite strong economic growth in Europe’s fourth-largest economy. Incomes have not kept pace. Analysts say tourism and immigration-driven population growth in cities have placed further pressure on the limited housing supply.

The Bank of Spain estimated that the country had a shortage of about 550,000 homes last year, with Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia accounting for a substantial share.

Spain ranks near the bottom of countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for public rental housing, which represents less than 2% of its available supply. The European Union average is 8%.

Spain previously built homes with public funds that were later sold into private ownership, removing them from the public housing stock.

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Zampano reported from Rome.