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Andrei Quintiá Pastrana, Investigador Ramón y Cajal, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

Spain’s housing crisis is a warning for all of Europe – rights mean nothing if they’re not enforced

Demonstrators march through the centre of Madrid to protest against high house prices and rents and to demand measures to tackle the housing crisis in Spain, on 26 September 2026. ÓSCAR GONZÁLEZ FUENTES/Shutterstock

When Maricarmen Abascal, a disabled 87 year-old, was evicted from the Madrid home where she had lived for 71 years, hundreds of people gathered outside in an attempt to prevent it. She was eventually forcibly removed from the building, and taken to hospital on a stretcher.

Her eviction sparked a wave of protests (still ongoing at the time of writing) against a housing crisis that, for many, has endured since the 2008 crash.

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