Spain has been rocked by housing protests since the eviction last month of an 87-year-old disabled woman from her home of seven decades, intensifying demands for stronger renters’ rights and adding to the pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who called a snap election on Monday. Rumors that the socialist prime minister might be taking such a move started growing over the weekend after the Spanish parliament rejected two decree laws aimed at addressing the country’s housing crisis. In a televised address on Monday, Sánchez said a snap election was necessary to end the deadlock in parliament, even though the move is risky for his coalition government.
"We need to renew people’s support," Sánchez said. "We need to mobilize and win a much larger progressive majority in parliament, one that will allow us to overcome vested interests, deliver new social advances and continue transforming Spain." The premier also admitted to having disappointed some voters despite years of intervention to improve housing affordability in the country. "I also know that part of that social majority is dissatisfied today," he said, promising to work for Spain to remain "a bastion of openness, social justice and environmental responsibility." It is a warning for Democrats in the U.S., who are facing a similar housing affordability crisis and proposing similar solutions to those supported by Sánchez and his government—including introducing rent control.
The protests rocking Spain erupted after Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old disabled woman, was forcibly evicted from her home of 71 years on September 23. Abascal said she was removed from her Madrid home because she was unable to afford a massive rent hike by her landlord—from €500 ($572) per month to €2,650 ($2,970). Abascal's monthly pension is reportedly €1,350.
Despite hundreds of protesters gathering at the house to try to prevent the eviction, images of Abascal being taken away on a stretcher made the rounds online, fueling anger against the unsustainable costs of renting across Spain. After days of demonstrations, Sánchez’s Cabinet agreed on housing relief measures offering better protections for renters—later blocked by parliament. The investment company that owns Abascal’s apartment, Urbagestión, offered a new contract to her asking for a similar amount of rent to what she paid before the recent price hike.
But Abascal’s eviction was the catalyst for years of anger that has been building since the 2008 crash, when the country’s housing crisis started. Unlike the U.S., Spain has a constitutional right to housing, with Article 47 of Spain’s Constitution recognizing that all Spaniards have the right to enjoy "decent and adequate" housing. It is up to the government to create the "conditions necessary to make that right effective." Despite this, Spain is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis very much like that faced by the U.S. and similarly driven by a chronic shortage of supply.
According to estimates by the Bank of Spain, the country would need 750,000 new homes to fix the existing supply gap, with big cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante, Valencia, Murcia and Málaga needing the most new construction. The gap in these cities is the biggest in the nation, according to the central bank, estimated at 52.5 percent. For a country which has enshrined the right to housing in its constitution, Spain also has surprisingly little social housing.
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