Overview

• Hundreds of homeless individuals have been sleeping in Madrid's Barajas Airport, driven there by soaring rents and limited public housing options.
• Spain's airport operator AENA plans to enforce boarding-pass checks during low-traffic hours, potentially forcing displaced individuals to sleep outdoors.
• Madrid city council claims national ministries refused to join a multi-agency effort to address the issue, while AENA accuses local authorities of neglecting their responsibilities.
• Social services in Madrid assisted 94 individuals in April, rehousing only 12, highlighting the limited impact of current efforts to address homelessness in the airport.
• Average rents in Spain have nearly doubled over the past decade, with Madrid and Barcelona experiencing the sharpest increases, exacerbating urban housing pressures.