Spain unveils housing crisis measures after outcry over 87-year-old's eviction

Spain's Socialist-led coalition government has approved a package of measures aimed at easing the country's housing crisis, following a wave of public anger over the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old disabled woman, from her Madrid apartment last week.

The cabinet has approved two decrees, though both still require approval in Congress, where the coalition lacks a majority. The government has called for a special parliamentary session on Friday, hoping to pass the measures quickly.

What the decrees include

The main decree would extend eviction protections for vulnerable tenants until 2030, introduce regulation of short-term and room-by-room rentals, ban so-called vulture funds from buying property until 2028, and extend current rental contracts due to expire at the end of 2028 by two years. A separate agreement covers automatic renewal of rental contracts.

On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters remained camped in one of Madrid's central squares, demanding legal reforms including a rent freeze and automatic lease renewals without steep rent increases, in response to Abascal's eviction, during which she was carried out on a stretcher.

Health minister Mónica García called the agreement an achievement that would have seemed impossible a month ago, saying it was time to intervene in the speculative housing market. The Tenants' Union, which has driven the push for reform, said it still needed to review the details and criticized splitting the changes into separate decrees rather than adopting its full proposal.

Junts, the Catalan party whose support is needed to pass the second decree, said it remained far from an agreement and wants protections for small landlords who own only one or two properties. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the opposition People's Party, dismissed the plan, arguing a problem built over eight years cannot be solved instantly.

Urbagestión, the company behind Abascal's eviction, has offered to let her return to her apartment at a rent capped at 30% of her income. She accepted on Tuesday and will now pay €533 a month, less than a third of the €1,650 originally demanded, which had triggered her eviction.