‘I pay $500 for 5 square metres’: Spain’s protesters, in their own words

Résumé détaillé

Young people are stuck in the family home or forced into cramped, overpriced rentals with little security or control.

Tens of thousands of young people have protested across Spain in recent weeks, rallying against the country’s acute housing crisis. On Wednesday, many have gone on strike, heeding calls by Spain’s biggest unions for a nationwide walkout under the slogan: “Salarios, vivienda y precios” – or “wages, housing, and prices”.

Anger grew last month after the forcible eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid flat where she had lived for the past seven decades. Her corporate landlord had raised the rent to a level above her means. As the public outcry worsened, she died in hospital the day the property owners who had evicted her agreed to allow her to return to her home.

To protect vulnerable renters, the government presented two emergency decrees to parliament, but these were defeated by right-wing parties.

Spain’s left-wing coalition government called a snap election for November 29, hoping to capitalise on anger over the housing crisis to rally voters as Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had trailed in the polls to the conservative People’s Party and the far-right Vox party.

Against this backdrop, the Bank of Spain has said the country has a shortage of 750,000 homes, but this figure could rise to 1 million by next year.

Haris Javaid Sharif, 24, a data analyst, lives with his parents, brother and sister in a 44sq-metre (474-foot) flat in Barcelona. Sharif earns $1,900 per month net. The family pay $745 for their rented flat, of which he pays half. He still lives with his parents as average rental prices for a three-bedroom flat in Barcelona range between $954 and $1,684.

“After the pandemic, we were evicted from our flat because we owed five months rent. My father and I could not work because of the pandemic. When we got the 2,500 euros ($2,800), the owner did not want to negotiate and we lost our home.

“We went 11 months without work and we lived in two-room accommodation. I thought it only happens to vulnerable people, but it can happen to anyone.

“I…

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