Thousands of people in Madrid protested against rising rents and the housing crisis

madrid

Madrid - Thousands of people today took to the center of Madrid to protest against skyrocketing rents and a lack of housing. Demonstrators demanded that the government urgently intervene in the housing crisis, which has become one of the main issues in Spain in recent years, AFP reported. The march was organized by the Madrid tenants' association and was supported by the two main Spanish trade union organizations.

Housing has long been one of the key issues for voters in Spain. The demand for housing in the country has increased due to tourism and population growth related to the arrival of migrants. However, the supply of public rental housing remains limited.

"Housing measures are progressing at a snail's pace. Although some are going in the right direction, the housing crisis is rapidly worsening," said Unai Sordo, the general secretary of the CCOO trade union, to journalists before the march began. Tenants' association spokesperson Fernando de los Santos pointed out that more and more tenants are forced to live in shared rooms or even with other families.

According to the organizers, more than 100,000 people participated in the march. A government representative in the region estimates that there were 23,000 march participants.

Average rents in Spain have doubled over the past ten years, according to the online real estate portal Idealista. Their growth has significantly outpaced wage increases. The creation of new households and delays in housing construction have led to a deficit of 700,000 apartments between 2021 and 2025, according to the central bank.

"If we pay high rent, we cannot save to buy an apartment, so it's a vicious circle that we will never escape," said one of the protesters to AFP. Another pointed out that 70 percent of her salary goes to rent and that to survive, she needs financial help from her family.

The country will have parliamentary elections next year. The current socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, introduced a new public investment fund in February, which he claims will have 120 billion euros (2.9 trillion CZK) available to help address the ongoing housing crisis in the country.