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MADRID: The Spanish octogenarian whose eviction last week has triggered nationwide protests \u200bover Spain\u2019s housing crisis will be able to return to her Madrid house after reaching an agreement with her landlord, her lawyer said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Protesters camped outside the Madrid regional government\u2019s headquarters for a third day to object to her eviction and demand stronger protection for tenants in the face of a housing shortage and soaring rents. The Spanish government said on Tuesday it was working to approve some relief measures.<\/p>\n
Protests boiled over last week after police evicted 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal on a stretcher from her Madrid home of more than seven decades because of an eviction order secured by the investment fund that bought her apartment.<\/p>\n
Abascal will pay a rent similar to the one she had under \u200ca new eight-year contract, \u200cher lawyer Beatriz Duro told a press briefing. The octogenarian, who was \u200bhospitalized \u200cfollowing \u2060her eviction, plans \u200bto \u2060sign the deal once she feels better, the lawyer said, describing it as unprecedented to reach an agreement that reverts an already concluded eviction.<\/p>\n
Her landlord could not be immediately reached for comment.<\/p>\n
Last week, hundreds of people outside her building clashed with police, while the Socialist-led central government condemned the center-right regional administration for not preventing the eviction.<\/p>\n
By Monday, hundreds of tents filled the central Puerta del Sol square, echoing the protests of 2011 when it was occupied for a month by activists demonstrating against austerity measures adopted during the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his cabinet, which meets on Tuesday, would approve some \u2060housing relief measures that he did not detail and called for parties to back \u200cthem in parliament at a later vote, saying protecting vulnerable tenants \u201cis not \u200ca matter of ideology but of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike in the financial crisis, when \u200bmany evictions were linked to mortgage defaults after a \u200cproperty bubble burst, a growing share are now related to rent disputes, reflecting a shortage of properties. Rents have \u200con average doubled over the past decade, far outpacing salaries.<\/p>\n
TENS OF THOUSANDS MARCH THROUGH MADRID<\/strong><\/p>\n On Saturday, some 30,000 people marched through Madrid to object to the treatment of Abascal and others forced from their homes by investment funds.<\/p>\n Marchers shook keys and bore banners with slogans including \u201cSpeculators go home\u201d and \u201cHousing is for living.\u201d<\/p>\n As night fell on Puerta del Sol, home to the office of Isabel Diaz \u200cAyuso, center-right president of the Madrid region, dozens of activists put up tents, and their number has steadily grown.<\/p>\n Blanca, a student, said young Spaniards were struggling to move \u2060out of their parents\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n \u201cPoliticians \u2060not only do nothing but make it worse,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve decided to put our foot down, so let\u2019s hope they hear us.\u201d<\/p>\n Further protests were set to take place across Spain on Monday, according to the Tenants\u2019 Union, which has been co-ordinating the protests.<\/p>\n From her hospital bed in Madrid, Abascal said she could not join the demonstration and urged protesters to keep fighting.<\/p>\n \u201cBe brave, fight, defend what is yours and, please, take care of yourselves; keep camping there for as long as your bodies can hold out and as long as you wish to. Let\u2019s hope all this comes to a successful conclusion tomorrow,\u201d she said in a video distributed by the Tenants\u2019 Union.<\/p>\n Spain has a deficit of 750,000 homes, according to the central bank, which has said that figure could rise to over 1 million by 2028. Only about 120,000 are built each year, a sixth of the rate before the 2008 financial crisis.<\/p>\n Ayuso said the \u200bprotests were an attempt to \u201cchange the rules of the \u200bgame\u201d on existing contracts and asked whether the activists thought there should be an age limit for paying rent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n