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.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 — 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀.
𝗠𝗮𝗿í𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 — known to everyone as Maricarmen — 𝗶𝘀 𝟴𝟳 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗹𝗱. 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.
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 — 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻.
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.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 — 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱.
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.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻'𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲.
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 Málaga 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.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘄.
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.
𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴: 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴 — 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 87-𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳-𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘜𝘕 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 (𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴.𝘤𝘰𝘮, 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 23, 2026) — 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 / 𝘓𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳 — 𝘌𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘥 (𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯.𝘤𝘰𝘮, 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 23, 2026) — 𝘌𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 / 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘢 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 — 𝘔á𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭.𝘦𝘴, 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 23, 2026)
+ info @ "The Guardian":
Video from The New York Times:
+ info click on pic
Update October 7th, link on pic below to more recent post on this blog about the topic:
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