Lorraine Williamson
Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Madrid woman whose eviction became a national symbol of Spain’s housing crisis, has died in hospital. She had been due to return to the home where she had lived for more than 70 years after an agreement was finally reached to allow her back.
Her death was announced on Wednesday, 7 October by the Sindicato de Inquilinas, just two weeks after she was removed from her rented home in Madrid’s Retiro district and taken by ambulance to the Gregorio Marañón Hospital.
Maricarmen had remained in hospital since the eviction on 23 September. Earlier on Wednesday, representatives of the tenants’ union had said her health was extremely fragile and that she was undergoing tests while her family remained concerned about her condition.
The union later confirmed her death, saying that although an agreement had finally been reached that would have allowed her to return home, the solution had come “too late”.
A home she had lived in for more than 70 years
Maricarmen had lived in the property on Calle Alcalde Sáinz de Baranda since she was a teenager. She inherited the rental contract following her mother’s death and had spent more than seven decades in the same home.
Her eviction was finally carried out on 23 September following years of dispute over the property. She left the building on a stretcher and was transferred by ambulance to hospital after a lengthy police operation.
The images quickly spread across Spain. An elderly woman being carried from the home that had formed the backdrop to almost her entire adult life became a powerful focal point for a much wider argument over rents, housing security and the treatment of long-term tenants.
Maricarmen became a national symbol
Her case triggered demonstrations and helped propel Spain’s housing crisis to the centre of national debate. Protests followed in Madrid and elsewhere, while campaigners established an encampment in Puerta del Sol calling for stronger protection for tenants and action over housing affordability.
From her hospital bed, Maricarmen continued to speak publicly about the issue. In a message released shortly after the eviction, she thanked those who had supported her and urged others facing similar situations to continue fighting for their homes.
Her case also became closely associated with the package of housing measures widely referred to as the “Maricarmen decree”, as political pressure intensified over tenant protections and Spain’s worsening affordability crisis.
Agreement came before she could return home
In the days after the eviction, negotiations continued over the possibility of allowing Maricarmen to return to the property.
An agreement was eventually reached that meant she could go home once she was medically well enough to leave hospital. RTVE reported only days ago that the deal had opened the way for her return following the enormous public pressure surrounding her case.
She never made it back.
The Sindicato de Inquilinas said on Wednesday that the housing debate was now firmly at the centre of public life, but described the price paid to reach that point as far too high.
Pedro Sánchez pays tribute
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was among those to pay tribute following news of Maricarmen’s death. In a message posted on X on Wednesday evening, he sent his condolences to her family and loved ones, adding that many people across Spain felt the loss personally.
Sánchez wrote: “Todo mi cariño a la familia y a los seres queridos de Maricarmen”, before ending his message with “Descanse en paz”.
His intervention underlines how far Maricarmen’s case had moved beyond an individual housing dispute to become part of a much wider national debate over eviction, rents and housing security.
Maricarmen’s death is likely to intensify a debate that has already moved far beyond the circumstances of one Madrid tenancy. In less than two weeks, her story came to represent the insecurity felt by tenants across Spain and the growing political pressure for changes to the country’s housing system.
For those who supported her, however, the story is now also painfully personal: Maricarmen had finally secured the possibility of returning to the home she fought so hard to keep, but died before she was able to cross its door again.