Moroccan Immigrant Families Face Housing Crisis in Madrid Amid Rising Evictions

Fatima was pregnant with her fourth child and went into labor on the day of their eviction in Madrid. The judicial commission gave them an additional three weeks to find another home. A painful memory for the Moroccan couple who tell their story to El País, in the presence of their compatriot, Noura Zouita, 43, who is also living the same situation, or almost.

In the eviction order for Fatima and Rachid, the judge indicated that the latter’s situation, as a security guard earning around 1,400 euros, was not affected by the health crisis. According to his lawyer, the judge did not consider Rachid’s temporary unemployment during the pandemic, and the advanced stage of his wife’s pregnancy. The Moroccan couple and their four children, all born in Spain, now live in a two-bedroom apartment that costs 600 euros per month (200 euros more than the apartment they were evicted from). An unsustainable burden for the father, who is already looking for a new home. The fifth in a year.

Noura, alone in managing her four children, two of whom are already adults, is also looking for a new home. She earns around 530 euros per month and stopped paying the rent a while ago. She dreams of getting social housing before finding herself on the street after September 30, the expiration date of the moratorium given by the government, after the judge agreed to suspend her eviction based on a report from the social services.

More than 41,000 families were evicted last year from their homes in Spain, according to data from the General Council of the Judiciary. The "not always effective" measures taken during the pandemic and which leave a "wide margin of interpretation to the judges," explains a spokesperson for the tenants’ unions. Natalia Palomar, a lawyer for the Provivienda association, speaks of "imprecision" and "ambiguity" in the legal texts that lead to difficult evictions. It is therefore urgent to correct the situation, she warns.