'This can't go on': thousands protest against housing crisis in Spain

Commenters debated the causes and remedies for Spain’s housing crisis after protests over an eviction. Some argued renter protections and eviction bans created perverse incentives - ricardobayes and ErneX said long eviction moratoria and law changes pushed landlords toward short-term lets and 11‑month contracts, reducing long-term supply. Others blamed the government’s record (ErneX) or accused YIMBYs of displacing long-term residents (pj_mukh). Several commenters rejected simplistic “just build more” fixes: plqbfbv, patriciobcs and ricardobayes warned that AirBnB, estate funds and salary stagnation siphon housing to tourists and investors, while patall and MiroslavPokorny emphasized the political resistance of older residents who oppose local building.

Proposed solutions and lines of division ranged from deregulated growth to strong regulation and decentralization. ricardobayes and cousin_it advocated boosting smaller cities and remote work to spread jobs; others like cinntaile called for banning AirBnBs and fund ownership, and samuel and toomuchtodo raised migration and demographic contexts (Spain’s population dynamics) as part of supply-demand tensions. The debate split between those prioritizing expanded construction and economic decentralization and those demanding tighter controls on investors and short‑term rentals to protect existing residents.