A woman from Barcelona with mental health problems and without a formal contract has been the first person to benefit from two decree-laws approved by the Council of Ministers, which must now be ratified by the Congress of Deputies in an extraordinary plenary session convened for this October 2. President Pedro Sánchez has demanded a position from the right-wing parties that oppose the norm: “their vote will portray them before entire generations.”

First modification: 02/10/2026 - 05:32

The impact of the image of an 87-year-old woman being carried out of her home on a stretcher and directed towards an ambulance continues to reverberate in Spain.

After the Council of Ministers approved two decree-laws to protect vulnerable people from evictions and find a solution to the housing crisis, the measure (now known as the 'Maricarmen decrees') has saved a first person from the streets.

This is Macarena, a resident of the Sant Andreu neighborhood in Barcelona, ​​for whom a judge suspended an eviction order that was intended to be executed for the second time.

The woman, who had lived in the apartment since 2017 without having a formal contract, paid 850 euros for the rent, under a verbal agreement. Initially, the landlord offered to continue paying the same amount, but for a single room.

She rejected that option and conditioned any new agreement on the signing of a legal contract, which the owner refused and requested eviction.

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Macarena has a diagnosis of mental health problems. Her neighbors protected her from a first launch attempt last July. This time, hundreds of people gathered around the house to celebrate that Maricarmen's drama has served to protect Macarena.

"Today Maca stays in her house. Tomorrow the votes of Congress will decide if this decree is still in force, or if Maca should have been evicted," the Tenants Union, whose lawyers assisted Macarena in her attempt to stop the eviction, noted in a publication in X.

Read alsoThe eviction of an 87-year-old retiree in a wheelchair exposes the housing crisis in Spain

Indeed, the royal decrees approved by the Council of Ministers after a negotiation between the two parties of the Executive, PSOE and Sumar, now face a more uphill challenge: overcoming the opposition of the right-wing factions to obtain approval in the Congress of Deputies.

The definitive exam

The Spanish legislative branch has called an extraordinary plenary session for this October 2, in which the two measures will be considered: one that protects against evictions until 2030, which the Government has presented as a social shield for vulnerable households, and another that orders the automatic renewal of rental contracts in certain cases.

The second is precisely the one that has faced the strongest opposition from factors such as the center-right Junts, which fears that very broad provisions do not distinguish between small owners and the so-called “vulture funds”, large capitals that acquire thousands of properties, generally intended for tourist rentals.

This practice is identified by activists and the Government of Pedro Sánchez as a central component in the housing crisis in Spain.

President Sánchez made it clear this October 1 that he does not expect to make concessions when the decrees are submitted to parliamentary scrutiny.

“The decrees that we have presented serve to stop speculation, facilitate access to the first home, promote affordable rentals and stop evictions, as we have seen today with the case of Macarena in Barcelona,” he said in a publication in X.

In it he appealed directly to the factors of resistance in Congress: "The moment of truth has arrived. PP, Vox and Junts must choose: either they are with the social majority or with the speculators. Tomorrow, their vote will portray them before entire generations."

Negotiations at the dawn of dawn between PSOE and Sumar made it possible to urgently address the situation of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old retiree who drew attention to the drama of the evictions and who will be able to return to what has been her home for 71 years.

Now, agreements in broad daylight will make clear the positions of the factions that have objected to these temporary solutions becoming lasting protections.

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They will also do so before the attentive eyes of hundreds of people who are taking part in camps called by the Tenants' Union to pressure for effective responses.

Junts has already announced that it will not endorse the decrees and asks that a new instrument be drafted in their place. “We are not afraid of burning ourselves to continue defending the interests of Catalan families,” said the spokesperson for the independence party Míriam Nogueras.

A vote against this group would practically bury the prospect of an agreement, since the Popular Party and Vox are expected to reject the decrees.

With local media

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