Eviction of pensioner puts Spain housing crisis in spotlight

An 87-year-old woman named Maricarmen was evicted Wednesday from the Madrid apartment she'd lived in for 70 years after her landlord raised the rent 275 percent, a scene broadcast live and met by protesters and police.

The eviction has become a flashpoint in Spain's housing crisis, where rents and prices have risen roughly 50 percent over a decade and just 1.2 percent of housing stock is publicly owned, far below peer European countries.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the eviction an unacceptable social tragedy and blamed Madrid's regional and city governments, while regional leader Isabel Díaz Ayuso accused the national government of demagoguery and inaction over eight years.

Sánchez's coalition lacks the votes to pass a law banning such evictions, and a junior coalition partner has demanded a rent freeze and outright expropriation of the woman's former home.

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