Thousands in Spain take to the streets in protest against country's housing crisis

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across 40 cities in Spain to demand solutions to what they have called the country's worsening housing crisis.

Organisers of the demonstrations— a collection of tenants' rights, neighbourhood movements and other social rights groups — accuse the government of turning housing "into a business model."

"Fear has changed sides: we are not going to demand more changes; we are organised and we have a plan against rentierism", said one of the groups leading the protests.

The mass protests mark a milestone as they are the first to be held simultaneously in many locations, a decade after the mass protests against evictions.

Major streets across Spain, including the capital, Madrid, on Saturday turned orange and green - the distinctive colours of the movement.

"This demonstration comes after many months of talks; we wanted it to be decentralised, for everyone to come out at the same time and paralyse the state. The idea is that it will be the first day of a new wave of protests," one of the protesters said.

Some of the demands of the protesters include the immediate lowering of rental prices, a reduction of up to 50%, the prohibition of evictions of vulnerable families, and a halt to the uncontrolled proliferation of tourist flats.

Sparked by the protests in the Canary Islands

The mass mobilisation against Spain's housing crisis first began last year in the Canary Islands, where residents took to the streets to demand a "sustainable" tourism model and denounce the lack of housing solutions.

"Housing has become a luxury within the reach of very few families", said Tenerife Tenants' Union at the time.

Subsequently, the initiative was supported by Malaga with its slogan, "Malaga to live, not to survive,". It was then followed by Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Bilbao, among other cities.

According to Spain's tenants' unions, the housing situation has reached critical levels, with rents reported to have increased, rising by more than 18% in the last two years. Meanwhile, wages remain stagnant.

In some touristic areas, such as Ibiza, rental prices in many cases exceed 100% of the usual salary, while in others, such as Cáceres, "rents have risen last year by 17% in the city and by 27% at the provincial level."

Mass tourism and real estate speculation

The demonstrations led by some citizens' movements attribute the direct cause of the crisis to the uncontrolled tourism model and property speculation as the cause of the crisis.

"The city model is commodified, expelling the neighbourhood, because the tourism industry exploits our neighbourhoods", denounces the platform 'València no està en Venda' (Valencia is not for sale).

In regions such as the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, the situation is particularly serious due to geographical limitations and tourist pressure.

"We are facing an unprecedented housing emergency: evictions, unaffordable rents and speculation with housing while the population cannot access this basic right," lament the Canarian collectives.

Organisers of Saturday's protests say they are confident the nationwide demonstrations will make a significant impact in the struggle for the right to decent, affordable, and sustainable housing in Spain.