Evicted 87-year-old Spanish pensioner to return home after deal

An 87-year-old Madrid pensioner, Maricarmen Abascal, whose eviction last Wednesday sparked widespread protests across Spain, will be able to return to her home following an agreement with the property's owners, her lawyer Beatriz Duro announced on Monday.

Abascal, who uses a wheelchair, was removed on a stretcher from the apartment in Madrid's upmarket Retiro district, where she had lived for 70 years. She became a symbol of the protest movement against soaring housing costs and weak tenant protections after the real estate firm that owns her building reportedly raised her rent by 275 percent, to 2,650 euros a month, despite her having always paid on time.

Duro said both sides had shown goodwill and that the new rent would be similar to what Abascal had previously been paying. She will be able to move back once discharged from hospital, where she is currently being treated for exhaustion. The lawyer described the outcome as a result of social mobilisation and expressed hope it could help change how such disputes are handled nationwide.

Nationwide unrest

Since Saturday night, around 100 tents have been pitched in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, while tens of thousands of people have joined protests across the country. In Barcelona, a city that has already seen demonstrations linking housing costs to overtourism, roughly 2,000 people gathered on Monday evening demanding stronger measures during a visit by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Sanchez's Socialist-led government is aiming to present a new housing package to the cabinet on Tuesday. However, the coalition, which includes the left-wing Sumar party, lacks a parliamentary majority, and a similar housing bill was rejected earlier this year.

According to real estate portal Idealista, average rental prices in Spain have nearly doubled over the past decade, reaching 15.10 euros per square metre in August. The Bank of Spain estimates the country, home to around 50 million people, is short by 700,000 homes.