Zeynep ConkarWhen 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was carried from her Madrid home on a stretcher last month, images of her eviction spread across Spain and turned a long-running housing crisis into a political revolt.
Abascal had lived in the apartment for more than seven decades.
After the property changed hands, she could not afford the sharply increased rent and was eventually removed from the home, despite repeated efforts by tenant activists to stop the eviction.
She died in hospital last week, two weeks after being evicted. Her lawyer did not disclose a cause of death. But her story has become a symbol of a contradiction at the heart of Spain's housing crisis.
Housing is recognised as a right under Spain's constitution, yet the country has one of the smallest social housing stocks in the European Union, at just 1.7 percent.
This figure is nowhere near enough, according to political analyst Klaus Jurgens.
“We can argue that Spain’s social welfare model has become a rather capitalist one, in which access to housing as a social right is severely restricted, particularly during economic crises when people struggle to make ends meet,” Jurgens tells TRT World.
This is not the right direction, especially under a left-leaning government, Jurgens argues.
“Spain seems to have overlooked the importance of housing, perhaps because it considered itself a welfare state where everything was going well. But it neglects the fact that people also need a roof over their heads and the private market is not the solution.”
Some 73 percent of Spaniards own their homes, but more than half of people aged 18 to 34 now live with their parents or depend on them financially.
House prices rose at three times the rate of wages last year.
A right on paper, a market in practice
Spain's shortage is severe. The country's central bank estimates a deficit of around 750,000 homes, potentially reaching one million by 2028.
But the problem isn't just the number of homes. Construction has failed to keep pace with demand in the cities where people need housing, while planning remains fragmented between the central government, regions and municipalities.
Short-term rentals and rising demand in urban centres have added further pressure.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist government attempted to intervene directly. Its housing package included stronger protections against evictions, measures to limit rent pressures and restrictions affecting corporate purchases of property.
Parliament rejected the package after right-wing lawmakers and the Catalan party Junts opposed it, arguing that tighter regulation would further restrict supply.
Three days later, Sanchez announced that he would dissolve parliament and call a snap general election for November 29, following the defeat of two government housing decrees by the People's Party (PP), Vox and Junts.
Jurgens argues that even if the snap election brings the opposition to power, making social housing a priority would not offer an immediate solution.
“How long will that take? You cannot build tens of thousands of homes in a week. Even under the most optimistic assumptions, increasing the current 1.7 percent share would take between two and four years.”
For Jurgens, the political fallout from the housing crisis reflects a broader revolt against the establishment, fuelled by dissatisfaction with living standards and social conditions.
“We have the migration issue in enclaves such as Ceuta, dissatisfaction with social conditions and, sometimes, it takes just one issue to trigger a wider revolt,” Jurgens says.
“Sanchez has a reputation for coming back from political setbacks. Whoever wins the next election will have to contend with widespread public discontent,” he adds.
A broader European problem
Spain's crisis reflects a wider European failure to guarantee secure housing, although the pressures vary across countries.
In Greece, almost 29 percent of the population lived in households spending more than 40 percent of their disposable income on housing in 2024, the highest share in the EU.
Ireland's rents have more than doubled since 2010, leaving thousands reliant on emergency accommodation.
Even Germany, with its larger social housing sector, is not immune, as households spent an average of 25 percent of their disposable income on housing in 2024.
Jurgens argues that Spain’s housing crisis reflects the broader European crisis, warning that dissatisfaction with living standards and purchasing power is fuelling support for fringe parties.
“Look at Germany and the far right AfD, or the UK and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. When people are dissatisfied with their purchasing power, they tend to vote for parties on the political fringes,” Jurgens says.
“This is a very dangerous situation in many European countries,” he adds.
“In Vienna, 43 percent of the housing stock is social housing. In Germany, the figure is just 3.3 percent, while in the United Kingdom it stands at 17 percent. Even when comparing Germany’s 3.3 percent with Spain’s 1.7 percent, we must acknowledge that Germany’s figure is also insufficient.”
Housing insecurity and the rise of the far-right
The problem across Europe extends beyond affordability to the risk of losing a stable home altogether.
Eurostat data for 2023 found that 4.9 percent of people aged 16 and older across the EU had experienced housing difficulties at some point in their lives, including staying temporarily with friends or relatives, using emergency accommodation or sleeping in a public space.
The share rose to 8.5 percent among people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared with 3.9 percent among those not at risk.
Greek-administered Southern Cyprus recorded the highest rate at 11.2 percent, followed by Finland at 10.8 percent, while Denmark, France and Sweden each recorded rates above 9 percent.
The consequences are also closely tied to escaping poverty. Across the EU, financial hardship accounted for 25.9 percent of reported housing difficulties, while finding a job was the most common route out of them, cited by 26.5 percent of people who had overcome such difficulties.
Moving into social or subsidised private housing accounted for another 20.4 percent. That many people rely on employment to regain stable housing, while one in five overcome the problem through subsidised accommodation, highlights the limits of leaving housing security to individual purchasing power.
Spain's exceptionally small social housing stock makes that contradiction particularly visible, but the European figures suggest the underlying challenge is shared across very different welfare systems.
“Look at the eastern German states, where the AfD is currently so strong. People don't vote for fringe parties because they want to stage a revolution. They want to express their dissatisfaction,” Jurgens says.
“The vast majority of these voters are neither far-right nor far-left. They are simply disgruntled.”
“If there is political will, it is possible to build a social housing system that provides genuine social welfare without bankrupting government finances. It can be funded through the national budget,” Jurgens says.
“This brings us back to public dissatisfaction. Investing in defence is necessary, unfortunately, but if that spending becomes disproportionate to the needs of people who cannot afford a roof over their heads, something is wrong with society and with the social welfare model across Europe,” he adds.
