Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman, was evicted from her Madrid flat after living there for 70 years because she could no longer afford the sharply increased rent. The case has become a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis, highlighting how property speculation and rising rents are putting long-term tenants, particularly pensioners, at risk.

The property’s owner, Urbagestión, raised her rent from €500 to €2,650 after buying the flat in 2018, later reducing it to €1,650—still above her €1,350 monthly pension. Despite court delays, protests, celebrity support, a UN request to halt the eviction and an anonymous offer to cover most of the rent, the eviction proceeded; rents in Madrid have more than doubled over the past decade.