Spain's Carmen case and squatting: exception turned into the rule

Spain's housing law turns Carmen into the rule and squatting into an excuse

Why does a law designed to make renting cheaper end up being debated through the case of a single landlord? Public conversation has turned Maricarmen — whose squatting episode has become a rallying flag — into the reference point for legislation, while the rest of the housing stock watches the affair as what, according to that same narrative, it would be: the exception, not the rule. The Government at the center of all eyes. And the housing law, once again, held hostage.

The Carmen case: the exception used as the rule

Some argue that the official narrative has turned Maricarmen into the poster child for squatting when in reality it would be an isolated case. The criticism points out that legislation is being written for the visible episode and not for the aggregate phenomenon, and that the result could be the opposite of what is intended: more legal insecurity for landlords and an incentive for squatters. The piece holding this argument together is simple: if the problem were widespread, no media case would be needed to justify the legal change.

Against that thesis, another camp defends that the law protects tenants in vulnerable situations and that the focus on a specific episode is a way of derailing the debate away from rental prices. Two mental frameworks that never touch and that explain why the discussion goes nowhere.

What does the proposal for the state to buy housing involve?

Here comes the most concrete proposal of the exchange: that the state buy apartments and become a landlord. The design being floated involves offering affordable rents, reinvesting the income from those rents into acquiring more housing, and thus expanding supply. The figure being discussed is an annual budget allocation of 10,000 million euros for five years, with purchases aimed at owners who hold more than four properties, so that — the argument goes — it does not affect the "poor granny" who tops up her pension by renting out an apartment. Behind that number lies a discussion that is often overlooked: public housing in Spain is built and sold, rarely kept as a stable stock.

Encampments in Sol square and the double standard

The scene at the Puerta del Sol runs through much of the exchange. Encampments that remain in place and that, it is pointed out, are tolerated under the protection of the right of assembly. The question that keeps coming up is uncomfortable: why is camping allowed in some places and not others, whether the criterion is legal or purely political. In between, the suspicion that some cases are evicted quickly while others are left alone.

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The law is being written, the case remains unresolved and the encampments are still there. In the end, the question is not who the law protects, but who benefits from people believing it protects them.