Taken from "Everything is Boffo" Facebook
Outside an apartment building in Madrid's Retiro district is still full of neighbours, activists, and cameras. And the story of what happened has become the most human illustration of Spain's housing crisis we have seen all year.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ — ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐.
๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟรญ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น — known to everyone as Maricarmen — ๐ถ๐ ๐ด๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐น๐ฑ. This morning she was evicted from the flat at 46 Alcalde Sainz de Baranda Street in Madrid's Retiro district, where she had lived since 1956.
This was the fourth attempt to evict her. Court officials went through with it this time after several postponements. Police cleared hundreds of people who had gathered in an attempt to stop the eviction.
Seventy years. She moved in when Eisenhower was President of the United States, when Franco still governed Spain, when the apartment building was new. She has watched everything that has happened to this country from that address. And this morning, at 87, she was removed from it by court officials while hundreds of her neighbors stood in the street trying to stop it from happening.
๐ช๐ต๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ — ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ต๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป.
An 87-year-old woman was forced out of her Madrid apartment after her rent shot up under a new landlord. Police carried out the eviction despite protests and last-minute offers to pay. The case shows how vulnerable tenants are in Spain's rental market.
The building was purchased by an investment fund. The new landlord dramatically increased the rent. Maricarmen could not meet the new price. The legal process that followed took time — three previous eviction attempts were postponed because of her age and the community pushback — but the fourth attempt was carried out this morning regardless.
This was the fourth attempt to evict her. The first three were postponed because of her age and the pushback from neighbors and activists.
The UN had also opposed the decision to evict her. Madrid's Tenants' Union had been present throughout. Left-wing parties across the spectrum have spent the morning calling for emergency housing legislation responses.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐
๐ — ๐๐ต๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ.
We have been covering Spain's housing crisis for most of this year. The record rental costs. The property raffle where 40,000 people entered for a €10 ticket. The worst cities to find an apartment. The government's €7 billion housing plan. The data showing that 70% of net wages in some cities goes to rent.
Maricarmen is not a statistic. She is a person with a name and a face and 70 years of daily life in one apartment in Madrid. She is also, as of this morning, a person without a home.
What makes this case the one that is stopping people today — more than the data, more than the policy debates, more than the political arguments — is its complete clarity. An 87-year-old woman. Seventy years in one home. An investment fund. A rent increase she could not meet. Police at the door on the fourth attempt.
There is nothing complicated about that sequence. It does not require expertise in housing law or economics to understand what it means. And that is why the street outside her building has been full of people since early this morning.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป'๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ.
We have reported multiple times this year that Spain's rental market is at an all-time high average cost. That Bankinter's own economists said renting is no longer viable for domestic demand. That Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, and Mรกlaga are all in crisis.
What Maricarmen's case adds to all of that data is the human endpoint of the trajectory. When investment funds buy residential buildings and raise rents to market rates, the people who cannot meet those market rates leave — or are removed. The legal process that removes them is real, functional, and being carried out by court officials in Retiro at 11am on a Wednesday in September 2026.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ป๐ผ๐.
It has not been confirmed where she will go. Activists and neighbours have said they will ensure she has somewhere to stay. The formal social services response from the Madrid regional government has not been publicly communicated.
๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด: ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด — ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง 87-๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ-๐๐ญ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ถ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ (๐ฆ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ, ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 23, 2026) — ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ / ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ — ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ (๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ, ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 23, 2026) — ๐๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ / ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ข ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด — ๐รก๐ด ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ด ๐๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ (๐ฆ๐ญ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ.๐ฆ๐ด, ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 23, 2026)
Video from The New York Times:
