87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked protests in Spain returns home
María del Carmen Abascal's case has drawn tens of thousands of people to the streets in recent days and led the Spanish government to present measures to address the country's housing crisis.
Source: NPR News · September 30, 2026 at 10:32 AM · AI-assisted report
Single-source
SINGAPORE, 30 SEPTEMBER 2026 —
Madrid, Spain – An 87‑year‑old pensioner who became the face of a nationwide housing protest will be allowed to return to her flat after her lawyer announced a settlement with the property’s owners on Monday, a development that comes as the Spanish coalition government prepares to table a package of reforms aimed at curbing evictions and speculative rent hikes.
Market Impact
The agreement, described by the lawyer Beatriz Duro as “a result of the social mobilisation”, will see María del Carmen Abascal, who uses a wheelchair, move back into her apartment in the upscale Retiro neighbourhood once she is discharged from hospital, where she is being treated for exhaustion.
Duro said the deal includes “goodwill from both parties” and that the rent will be “similar to what she had been paying”, after the real‑estate firm that owned the unit had reportedly raised the monthly charge by 275 percent to €2,650.
Abascal’s forced removal on a stretcher last Wednesday, after more than seven decades in the same home, sparked a wave of demonstrations that have drawn tens of thousands of people to the streets of Madrid and other cities.
Protesters have erected roughly 100 tents in the iconic Puerta del Sol square since Saturday night, demanding a rent freeze, automatic renewal of leases and an end to what they describe as “vulture fund” activity in the housing market.
The public outcry has put pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government to act. On Tuesday, Health Minister Mónica García announced that the ruling Socialists had reached an agreement with junior coalition partner Sumar on a set of measures that would be split into two decrees and presented to parliament on Friday. The first decree would ban evictions until 2030 and roll over existing tenancy contracts until 2028.
The second decree would address the definition of “vulture funds” and introduce a ban on such entities from the housing market.
Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez elaborated that the government intends to broaden the definition of a vulture fund beyond large private‑equity houses to any fund or company that purchases residential property for speculative purposes. She cited Urbagestion, the small firm that evicted Abascal, as an example of a company that could fall under the new definition. Urbagestion did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Social Affairs Minister Pablo Bustinduy said the “final sticking point” of the package is the automatic contract rollover provision, which will be dealt with in the second decree. He told a news conference that the government aims to “intervene in the speculative housing market and start striking a balance between ordinary citizens and vulture funds”.
The reforms face a difficult path through a fragmented parliament. Junts, the Catalan pro‑independence party whose support is needed for the decree to pass, said on Tuesday that it was still far from agreeing on all measures and called for protections for small landlords, who own the majority of rental properties in Spain.
Junts parliamentary spokesperson Miriam Nogueras told RTVE that “we all agreed that evictions – where the property is owned by a fund, a vulture fund, run by someone managing millions of euros – obviously need to be stopped”, but warned that “lumping together in this category those who have invested their savings in a flat, a restaurant or a property – putting them all in the same basket – is a mistake”.
Madrid’s tenants’ union criticised the government’s decision to split the reforms into two separate decrees, arguing that the approach could dilute the impact of the measures and delay relief for renters. The union did not issue a direct statement in the source material but its criticism was noted in the broader coverage of the debate.
The political stakes are high. Spain’s housing market has been under pressure for years, with soaring rents and a shortage of affordable homes prompting repeated calls for stronger tenant protections. The Abascal case, which attracted coverage from international outlets such as France 24, the South China Morning Post and Yahoo News Singapore, has amplified the issue, turning a single eviction into a rallying point for a broader movement.
In the immediate term, the settlement allows Abascal to return home after a brief hospital stay. Duro said the aim was to “accelerate the procedures” so that the pensioner could move back as soon as possible.
“If this agreement we have reached is signed, it will obviously be a better and happier outcome for everyone,” she told reporters, adding that she hopes the case “helps to change the paradigm when it comes to housing in general”.
The upcoming parliamentary vote on the two decrees will test whether the government can translate the momentum of the street protests into concrete legislation. If approved, the eviction ban would remain in force until 2030, while the contract‑rollover rule would extend tenancy stability for another decade. The proposed ban on vulture funds aims to curb speculative buying that drives up rents, though the exact scope of the definition remains a point of contention among lawmakers.
As the debate unfolds, the Abascal episode underscores the intersection of individual hardship and systemic policy challenges. The pensioner’s return to her flat will be watched closely by activists, landlords and policymakers alike, serving as a barometer for how Spain’s housing crisis may be addressed in the months ahead.