AN 87-year-old woman carried from her Madrid home on a stretcher has become the face of Spain’s housing crisis.

In just a week, her eviction has sparked mass protests and a growing tent camp in the Puerta del Sol. It has also pushed the government into an emergency package of housing laws, now dubbed the ‘Maricarmen decree’.

Here is how one eviction turned into a national movement.

Who is Maricarmen?

Maria del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, is a disabled pensioner who had lived in the same rented flat in Madrid’s Retiro neighbourhood since 1956, when her father first took it on.

For decades she paid around €500 a month. That changed when the building was sold to investment firm Urbagesa, which raised her rent to €2,650.

When it became clear she couldn’t pay, the company cut the rent to €1,650. That was still more than her €1,350 monthly pension.

READ MORE: WATCH: Violent clashes erupt in Madrid after 87-year-old disabled woman is forcefully evicted from her flat by investment firm

How was she evicted?

Authorities tried and failed to evict her three times. The fourth attempt, last Wednesday, succeeded after police cleared hundreds of protesters who had gathered outside to stop it.

Maricarmen was carried out of the building on a stretcher. The images spread quickly, and her case became a symbol for tenants across the country.

Why are people protesting?

On Saturday, crowds marched through the capital. The government put the turnout at around 25,000, while the Sindicato de Inquilinas tenants’ union, which organised the march, claimed some 300,000.

More than 150 tents then went up in the Puerta del Sol, and the camp has kept growing. Around 600 people slept in the square on Sunday night, and roughly 1,000 were there by Tuesday morning, the day the cabinet met to tackle the housing crisis. 

Protesters want stronger protections for tenants and a ban on evictions where no alternative housing is offered. Union spokeswoman Alicia del Rio said the anger unleashed could no longer be stopped, and that protesters would stay put until the government met their demands.

READ MORE: Spain approves sweeping housing measures to cap rents and ban ‘vulture’ fund speculation after 87-year-old’s eviction sparks nationwide protests

How bad is Spain’s housing shortage?

The Bank of Spain estimates the country was short of around 550,000 homes last year.

Publicly subsidised rentals make up less than 2% of Spain’s housing stock, against an EU average of around 8%.

What is the ‘Maricarmen decree’?

Prime minister Pedro Sanchez promised to fast-track new housing laws after Maricarmen publicly appealed to him to act.

On Tuesday, the cabinet delivered. After last-minute negotiations with other parties, the government split the ‘Maricarmen decree’ into two separate texts to improve its chances of getting through Congress. 

The first decree contains the bulk of the measures:

• An eviction shield until 2030. Housing minister Isabel Rodriguez said protections for vulnerable tenants would be extended to 31 December 2030, so that cases like Maricarmen’s are not repeated. 
• A ban on ‘vulture funds’. Speculative purchases of homes are banned until 2028, a measure aimed at investors who buy properties or mortgage portfolios far below their value. ‘Vulture fund’ is not a legal term, however, and the minister did not spell out exactly who it covers. Public bodies such as the state housing agency Casa 47 are exempt, so they can still buy public or affordable homes. 
• Longer contracts. Rental contracts that expire before 2028 will be extended by two years. 
• Tax changes. VAT on building public housing drops to 4%, and the tax regime for property investment companies (SOCIMIs) will change to steer their money towards affordable homes. 

The second decree deals only with automatic renewal of rental contracts, a demand from Sumar, Sanchez’s junior coalition partner. If a tenant is up to date with the rent, the landlord must justify not renewing the contract, and pay the tenant compensation if they can’t. 

READ MORE: Spain’s new flagship housing measures will go before Parliament this week – but the vote is far from certain

The government says the package will bring relief to more than five million people.

One thing missing is Maricarmen’s own flat. Neither decree includes the expropriation of her home, which Sumar had originally demanded. 

What happens next?

Both decrees must now be approved by Congress in an extraordinary vote on Friday. That is far from certain, as Sanchez’s minority government needs support from other parties.

The protesters aren’t packing up yet. The tenants’ union told hundreds of campers in the square that the decrees do not settle their demands. Labour minister Yolanda Diaz, meanwhile, credited the protests for forcing the government’s hand and urged people to keep up the pressure on the streets ahead of Friday’s vote. 

Maricarmen herself has joined in from afar. The union said she sent an audio message saying she was proud of and inspired by the protests, and celebrating the possibility of going back home. 

The camp faces a showdown of its own. The Madrid regional government has given the central government’s delegation 48 hours to clear what it calls an ‘illegal’ camp. Otherwise, it says, it will go to the courts, including possible criminal action against the government delegate. 

What does the opposition say?

PP leader Alberto Feijoo has predicted the decree will not deliver results. 

Vox leader Santiago Abascal has gone further, calling those camped in the Puerta del Sol ‘Sanchez’s militias’ and accusing the government of prioritising foreigners for social housing.

The party’s official X account sparked a backlash with a post claiming that if Maricarmen were ‘Morocarmen’, she would have a home. The pun swaps ‘Mari’ for ‘Moro’, a term historically used for North Africans, to suggest migrants get preferential treatment.

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