James Rhodes offered to pay rent or buy Maricarmen's flat: "They behaved like sharks"

Pianist **James Rhodes** offered to pay the rent or buy **Maricarmen**'s flat to prevent her eviction, but the owner company, **Urbagestión**, rejected the proposal.

Pianist, philanthropist, and writer **James Rhodes** has revealed that he tried to mediate in the case of **Maricarmen**, a woman facing eviction. **Rhodes** contacted **Urbagestión**, the vulture fund that owns the property, with a specific proposal: to offer to pay the rent at market price or even buy the property. The goal was to ensure that **Maricarmen** could continue living in her home. However, according to **Rhodes**'s account, all avenues were rejected by the company.

## Proposal rejected by "sharks"

**James Rhodes** described his negotiation attempt with **Urbagestión** as an encounter with "sharks". He explained that he contacted the fund to point out that his intervention, whether by renting or buying the property, would represent a benefit for them. The refusal of any type of agreement, even when money was offered to cover the rent or the full purchase, led him to conclude that the company's actions were not based on common sense, but on a logic of maximizing profits above all else. The British writer lamented that empathy seemed to be viewed as a weakness in these types of transactions.

## Denunciation of politicization and lack of empathy

The British writer took the opportunity to criticize what he considered an excessive politicization of the case. **Rhodes** asked Spanish politicians to collaborate in finding solutions to these situations, instead of using the issue as a political weapon in parliamentary debates. He pointed out that, despite the criticism he might receive for his stance, the underlying problem was not his ideology, but the lack of humanity in the management of housing by investment funds. He considered it "very sad" that a person with the resources to solve the problem, whether by paying the rent or buying the property, could not do so due to the company's intransigence.

## An "international shame"

The images of **Maricarmen**'s eviction reminded **Rhodes** of similar situations in other cities, such as **Barcelona**, where he also intervened to try to help and met with the same firm refusal from a vulture fund. For **Rhodes**, these events constitute an "international shame". He reflected on the primacy of economic benefit over human well-being, expressing pride in his Spanish identity but also consternation at such events. The pianist wanted to make it clear that his public intervention was not seeking prominence, but to denounce that there are people willing to help and that, even so, it is not enough to prevent these situations.