Spain Overhauls Housing Legislation Following Elderly Woman's High-Profile Eviction

Spain's government enacted emergency legislation freezing evictions of vulnerable tenants through 2030 and capping rent increases at 2% following the widely publicized eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her longtime Madrid apartment. The measures, which also redefined investment firms acquiring residential properties as "vulture funds," represent a reversal of housing policy Congress had rejected just months earlier in April. The government offered to restore the woman's apartment at her original rental rate, while protesters maintain an encampment at Madrid's central plaza demanding broader tenant protections.

Spain's government moved with unusual speed to address a housing crisis that has festered for years. The catalyst was the September eviction of an elderly tenant whose decades-long residency and subsequent removal on a stretcher generated nationwide outrage within hours. This public pressure transformed a legislative proposal that lawmakers had explicitly rejected just five months prior into emergency policy, demonstrating how a single high-profile case can shift political momentum.

The proposed measures target what officials characterize as speculative investment in residential properties. The government's redefinition of "vulture funds" aims to regulate companies purchasing apartment buildings and dramatically raising rents, a practice that has displaced tenants across major Spanish cities. However, the coalition government lacks an independent parliamentary majority and must secure support from the Catalan party Junts to convert these emergency decrees into permanent law.