Luka Idiart Tous heard a story at his first neighborhood assembly in Madrid that stuck with him: a mother and daughter sharing a single room, paying about €750 of their €1,200 monthly minimum wage, facing eviction despite holding a valid lease.

"It was really hard for me to hear her story," Idiart Tous said in a Haverford College profile published July 30. "We were able to help her legally since she had a contract and there was no legal reason for the landlord to kick her out."

Idiart Tous, a first-year student from Bahía Blanca, Argentina, spent his summer working with the Sindicato de Inquilinas e Inquilinos de Madrid, a grassroots tenants union founded in 2017 that fights evictions and landlord harassment across the Spanish capital. His self-designed internship was funded through Haverford's Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, which awarded 52 students summer fellowships this year with a base stipend of $4,000.

The work behind the protests

At the sindicato, Idiart Tous supported weekly neighborhood assemblies where tenants receive free legal guidance from affiliated lawyers. He also maintained membership databases, coordinated outreach and helped run the organization's Instagram account, which has more than 60,000 followers.

The housing crisis he witnessed is severe. Madrid rents surged 48% from 2015 to 2025, according to UBS data compiled by Visual Capitalist, the steepest rental increase among all major global cities tracked. Asking rents reached €21.3 per square meter by March 2026, up 10.3% year-over-year.

Idiart Tous told the college he met residents who had lived in the same home for 60 years and could no longer afford the rent, forced to move after a lifetime in one place.

A family connection

The work hit home. Idiart Tous's great-grandparents left Mallorca for Argentina, driven out by economic hardship, World War II and a housing shortage. He was the first family member to visit Spain since they left. During his time there, he traveled to Mallorca and FaceTimed his mother so she could see his great-grandparents' former home.

Coming home to Haverford

Now back on campus, Idiart Tous has his eye on the local housing landscape. After mentioning to Madrid organizers that he attends college near Philadelphia, they told him about tenant unions already operating in the Haverford area. He plans to connect with those organizations and apply the sindicato's communications-and-community approach locally.

He told the college that students interested in housing justice should look for organizations addressing the crisis wherever they live. Idiart Tous will present his summer work at the CPGC Poster Fair and Ignite Presentations in October.

Upcoming

  • October 2026: CPGC Poster Fair and Ignite Presentations, Haverford College campus (specific date TBD)