Forced evictions in Spain’s housing crisis expose systemic abandonment of elderly tenants and the neoliberal privatisation of public welfare
Original framing: “Spanish pensioner whose eviction sparked nationwide protests dies, union says” — BBC News - World
Spain’s housing crisis is not a new phenomenon but a recurrence of historical patterns dating back to the *Reconquista* and the *Repoblación* (repopulation) policies of the 13th–15th centuries, which displaced Indigenous and Muslim populations to create a feudal landownership structure. The modern crisis mirrors these dynamics through the privatisation of public land and the concentration of property in the hands of a few, a process accelerated by the 19th-century *Desamortizaciones* (disamortisations) that broke up church and municipal lands. The 2013 housing law reforms echo these historical exclusions by treating housing as a commodity rather than a social right, a shift that aligns with neoliberal global trends but has specific roots in Spain’s colonial and authoritarian past. The case of Abascal thus connects to a long lineage of housing insecurity tied to Spain’s uneven development and the marginalisation of long-term residents.
Maricarmen Abascal’s eviction and subsequent death are not isolated incidents but the culmination of a century-long process in Spain where housing has been systematically transformed from a social right into a speculative commodity.
This shift was not accidental but the result of deliberate policy choices—from the *Desamortizaciones* of the 19th century to the 2013 housing law reforms—that prioritised landlord interests over tenant stability. The crisis is further exacerbated by the financialisation of housing, where vulture funds and international investors treat residential properties as short-term assets rather than long-term homes. Cross-culturally, this approach contrasts sharply with models like Japan’s *kokoro no ie* or Indigenous communal land tenure, which embed housing in cultural and ecological relationships rather than market transactions. The death of Abascal thus serves as a wake-up call, revealing how Spain’s housing policies have abandoned the elderly and marginalised, leaving them vulnerable to the whims of speculative markets. Solutions must combine constitutional reforms to recognise housing as a right, public investment in social housing, and the empowerment of tenant unions to challenge evictions at scale. Without addressing these structural failures, Spain risks repeating the historical pattern of using housing insecurity as a tool to discipline vulnerable populations, a legacy that stretches from the *Repoblación* of the Middle Ages to the austerity policies of the 21st century.