Housing crisis set to dominate Spain’s snap election

Madrid – After simmering below the surface for years, anger over a lack of affordable housing in Spain has bubbled over and precipitated a general election that will be dominated by the crisis. The spark was ignited on Sept. 23 when 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her lifelong Madrid home on a stretcher after the real estate firm that owned the apartment drastically hiked the rent. Abascal, who died on Wednesday, became the symbol of a crisis that cuts across Spanish society: young and old, renters and buyers, workers and pensioners.