Ayuso lashes out against housing proposals after Maricarmen's eviction: "They are sectarian and deeply ideological"

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has resorted to irony this Monday to criticize the measures proposed after Maricarmen's eviction. Five days after the 87-year-old woman was taken out on a stretcher from the house where she had lived since 1956, the Madrid leader has wondered when she will be able to stop paying rent and stay in her landlords' home.

"Let them tell me from what age I stop paying my landlords to stay in it," she said during the inauguration of the 'Madrid Investment Forum', a meeting organized by the regional government for businessmen and investors. Ayuso added that, when that moment comes, she might join the next demonstration of tenants to claim her right to remain in the house.

The statement starts from a premise that does not correspond to the case that has caused the mobilizations. Maricarmen never stopped paying her rent. She paid around 500 euros monthly for an old rent contract, in addition to the Property Tax (IBI) and other expenses. The judicial procedure was opened due to the duration of the second subrogation of the contract, after the home passed first from her father to her mother and subsequently to her.

Urbagestión, owner of the property, even demanded a monthly rent of 2,650 euros, practically double her pension. The company later proposed lowering it to 1,650 euros, an amount that remained above all her income. The eviction was also not motivated by accumulated debt or non-payment of monthly fees.

From the "festival of occurrences" to the "law of the jungle"

Ayuso has described the proposals being negotiated to protect tenants as "sectarian and deeply ideological" and has defined the Government's future decree as a "festival of occurrences." Among the measures she has rejected are the expropriation of homes held by vulture funds and enhanced protection for the elderly or vulnerable against eviction.

"If there are people who don't have a home, it's not the fault of those who do. If there are people who are doing worse in life, it's not the fault of those who are doing better," she proclaimed. The Madrid president also assured that these measures lead to a scenario where the rule of law disappears and "the law of the jungle" begins to govern.

Hours later, Ayuso accused those who had linked her words to Maricarmen's eviction of "crude manipulation." The PP leader maintains that she was ironizing about the "political occurrences of the week." However, she had begun her speech by expressly talking about the housing protests, the eviction of the octogenarian, and the measures the Government is preparing in response.

The president also lashed out against the encampment set up in Puerta del Sol after Saturday's massive demonstration. She accused the Government and the Delegation of acting "illegally" by allowing it and stated that the tents "ruin" merchants and damage the tourist appeal of the square.

The participants have already spent two nights in Sol and are demanding indefinite rental contracts, price freezes, and the prohibition of evictions without housing alternatives. The Government intends to bring to the Council of Ministers this Tuesday a decree still under negotiation that contemplates curbing speculative purchases by funds, stabilizing contracts, and expanding protection for vulnerable families.

Más Madrid responds with the 6.3 million penthouse

The spokesperson for Más Madrid in the Assembly, Manuela Bergerot, has reproached Ayuso for disassociating herself from the rising cost of rent while her Government refuses to apply the stressed areas provided for by state law in the region. "If there are people who cannot pay rent in the Community of Madrid, it is Ayuso's fault, who said that landlords could set the rent at whatever price they wanted," she replied.

From the Tenants' Union, Alicia del Río also responded to the Madrid president. "It's funny because she's the one who never pays rent," she declared on 'Mañaneros 360', before reminding her that the mobilizations demand stability for tenants and alternatives for vulnerable people.

The Minister of Health and leader of Más Madrid, Mónica García, directly responded to the caricature used by Ayuso. "We want all tenants and all families to stay," she said before bringing up the controversy over the Chamberí home acquired by Planifica Madrid with public money: "The only eviction we will accept is that of the six-million-euro penthouse."