The death of 87-year-old Maria del Carmen Abascal, widely known as Maricarmen, has intensified the national outcry over Spain’s deepening housing crisis. Maricarmen, a long-term tenant who had resided in her Madrid home for seven decades, was forcibly evicted on September 23 after an investment fund acquired the property and hiked her rent by over 200 percent to approximately $1,880 monthly. The eviction, during which she was carried out on a stretcher, became a rallying point for demonstrators nationwide. She remained hospitalized following the incident until her passing. “We cannot ignore the fact that housing is where most of our wages go.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his condolences on social media, writing, “All my love to Maricarmen’s family and loved ones. A hug as well to all of us who feel this loss as our own today.” Her struggle had previously ignited widespread unrest, with the Madrid Tenants’ Union leading significant protests and encampments in the central Puerta del Sol square that eventually spread across multiple cities.
Building on this momentum, Spain’s two largest labor organizations, the Workers’ General Union (UGT) and Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), have announced a nationwide general strike for November 11. This event, pending formal ratification, marks the first joint industrial action by these unions in 14 years. Spokesperson Valeria Racu of the Madrid Tenants’ Union underscored the urgency of the movement, questioning the utility of minimum wage increases when housing costs inflate at several times that rate. A few weeks before a snap election in which rising rents and evictions have become major campaign topics, trade unions on Wednesday announced a nationwide general strike over housing issues for November 11.
Economic data highlights the severity of the situation. The Bank of Spain estimates a shortfall of 750,000 housing units, a figure projected to climb past one million by 2028. Furthermore, the average monthly rent of 1,176 euros ($1,315) consumes nearly 98.7 percent of the typical income for a young worker in Spain, according to the Youth Council of Spain. Spain has a deficit of about 750,000 homes, which is set to grow to more than a million by 2028, according to the Bank of Spain.
The housing crisis has become a central issue for the upcoming snap general election on November 29, which was called by Prime Minister Sanchez after his administration failed to pass emergency legislation to address the housing deficit. Sanchez, who has been in office since 2018, faces a challenging path to reelection as current polls show him trailing conservative Popular Party (PP) leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo.
Despite leading in the polls, Feijoo faces his own hurdles after failing to secure a governing majority in the 2023 elections. Observers note that he would likely require support from the far-right Vox party, led by Santiago Abascal, to form a coalition government if he wins the next vote. The convergence of the labor strike and the national election marks a critical juncture in the country’s political and economic climate.
