Spain's housing crisis is dominating headlines following the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen from her lifelong home in Madrid, after an investment firm bought her building and increased her rent by five times the amount.
As a result, hundreds of protestors are camped out in Madrid's main square demanding solutions for the country's 9 million renters.
READ ALSO: Deal struck for evicted pensioner Maricarmen as Spain's PM seeks new housing law
While the government is currently trying to pass a new bill to solve the situation, we asked our readers who they think is to blame - the government, greedy landlords, vulture funds or others? Here's what you said:
The government and its policies
Unsurprisingly, many of you blame the Spanish government for the housing crisis as well as the general laws and policies that have allowed this to happen.
Antonio, who owns a property in Valencia, wrote: “Probably the government in that there is not enough new housing being built in the cities where people want to work and yet millions of legal immigrants, who are required for the economy, have arrived in the past decade”.
Victoria also agreed, "The government!!" she exclaimed.
Radu said: "On one side salaries are very low in Spain. They usually are in socialist countries. On the other side you have okupas (squatters). The government is doing nothing to solve those problems."
One reader who lives in the Canary Islands believes “The problems lie squarely with the state only”. He cites the lack of social housing in the archipelago, as well as the policies that make building difficult. “In the Canary Islands a lot of land is protected and getting a building permit is excruciating,” he explains.
READ ALSO: Is Spain's squatting problem really that bad?
Yet he also blames the government policies that gives squatters rights and let homes sit empty. “There are something like 3 million homes empty in Spain. Half of them are where no wants to live the other half are and people are too afraid to rent because of the state,” he says.
But not everyone is blaming the current government. Harald Samuelsson, who lives in Valencia, blames Spain’s previous governments too. “Governments in the last 35 years who have drastically reduced building social housing and have sold off existing housing,” he wrote.
READ ALSO: How privatising 2.7 million public flats caused Spain's housing crisis
Some also blame all political parties involved in approving new legislation. Leonard in Asturias had a good point. “Refusing to pass a new budget. Political infighting on the left preventing passing pro Spain legislation and using blackmail. PP obsession with attack dog PR and regional selfishness”.
Vulture funds
Surprisingly, only five readers blamed vulture funds for the crisis, despite the fact that the recent Maricarmen case in Madrid involved one who increased her rent fivefold and then evicted her when she couldn’t pay.
Julie who rents in Madrid believes both vulture funds and tourist rental companies like Airbnb are to blame.
READ ALSO: How vulture funds are worsening Spain's housing crisis
Gail, who owns her home in Asturias, agrees that vulture funds like Blackstone are mainly to blame for the problems.
Paul in Cantabria also said the vulture funds need to be stopped if the crisis is going to end.
Landlords
Landlords often get a bad rep and are blamed frequently during protests and even by the government themselves, but while some of you agree, the majority did not agree that they are solely to blame. Many assigned blame to them in part, along with government policies and other issues.
“Greedy landlords” wrote one reader, while another simply said “Too many private landlords”.
Other
Karl, who lives in southern Spain, blames construction cost and bureaucracy for the lack of housing and rising costs.
Paul, who rents in Cantabria, agrees. “Extremely slow construction. For instance, it has been 3 years since a small development in Castro Urdiales broke ground, and it is still nowhere near complete.”
READ ALSO: Spain needs eight years of non-stop building to fix housing shortage
Some blame local governments rather than Madrid. One reader in Valencia said the “municipal taxation system” is to blame “which allows too many empty underused homes”.
Jim who owns his own home in Málaga, however, believes “It is overwhelmingly due to the lack of protection for long-term landlords that encourages homeowners to opt for the short-term tourist let model as they are less likely to get sitting tenants”.
One reader who is about to move to Spain blames the chain of supply and demand. “People are moving away from rural areas into the prime locations for work, social life, retirement, etc”.
Robert, who owns a home in Almuñécar, blames “second-home owners who come from inland areas to the coast in summer and occasional weekends. Many apartment blocks are virtually empty out of season”.
Mark, who lives in the Costa Blanca, concurs. “One thing that never seems to be mentioned in the media is the number of Spanish families who own second homes here. This is very prevalent in the coastal area where I live”.
Another reader on Facebook blamed the division of the country. “Popular coastal locations, social, domestic, geographical location, unsustainable amounts of people visiting and wanting to live in certain locations but ignoring others. An area becomes populated and the wealthier live or visit there and the investment and local economy increases.”
Blame across the board
Many of our readers commented that one single group wasn’t solely to blame for the housing crisis and that a combination of all of them are at fault.
Krystal wrote on Facebook that “Every interested party is to blame. There are too many people living in cities and there should be a greater emphasis on repopulating towns around cities, but that isn't the fault of the government or businesses…. Likewise there are too many people here, but they have a right to be here, and the government hasn't done anything against this new influx of people.”
Selso in Madrid explained “At its core, Madrid’s housing shortage stems from a structural mismatch: urban populations are expanding rapidly, but development has failed to keep pace with demand. This fundamental scarcity is further exacerbated by the diversion of residential properties into holiday and seasonal accommodations… Treating tourism as the sole driver of rent hikes oversimplifies a complex economic reality. Rather than assigning blanket blame to small landlords, foreign buyers, or tenants, public discourse should pivot toward holding policymakers accountable for actionable solutions”.
Deborah who lives in Galicia wrote that it was a combination of the greed of the landlord class and lack of laws to limit tourist accommodation. She also said empty properties in rural areas of Spain should be encouraged to be brought back into the housing stock.
For renter Julie in Barcelona it's a combination of “greedy sellers, overtourism and the government not controlling rental prices” that's at the heart of the issue.
And for Valencia homeowner T. Villegas, it’s the government’s fault for not allowing building permits fast enough and for not building enough housing, as well as not changing the laws for those who inherit property and for not having stricter rules in place for tourism industry, adding that cruise ship companies, Airbnb, vulture funds and investors also have a role to play.
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