Málaga Housing Protest Camp Ends as Strike Call Set Málaga and Granada's housing protest camps came down after two weeks, as the movement shifts its energy toward a general housing strike called for November 11. Tents down, next date circled Plaza de la Constitución is clear again. After close to a fortnight under canvas in the centre of Málaga, campaigners folded their tents over the weekend, matching a simultaneous pack-up in Granada. The two camps had become the most visible face of a housing protest movement that has unsettled both Andalusian cities this autumn, and their removal was not a retreat. It was a decision to move the fight onto new ground, with a general housing strike now scheduled for November 11. At its peak the Málaga camp spread dozens of tents across the square by the Marqués de Larios corner, a stretch of the city centre better known for shoppers and tapas terraces than protest assemblies. Evening meetings ran almost nightly, drawing residents, students and families affected by rent rises. Earlier this month a march through the same streets pulled in thousands, with banners calling for rent controls, more public housing stock and a halt to evictions that have become a familiar feature of life in a city where property prices have climbed sharply. Why the camps came down Organisers were careful in how they framed the withdrawal. Running an open-air camp through an Andalusian autumn is harder than it sounds: the daily assemblies had begun to drain more energy than they produced, police attention had been intensifying around the square, and the first proper rains of the season made an indefinite stay impractical. Rather than wait to be moved on, the movement chose to dismantle the camp on its own terms, taking tents down by group agreement and shifting the nightly assemblies to other venues around the city. The Granada camp reached the same conclusion at almost exactly the same time, which organisers say was no coincidence. Both groups appear to have calculated that the momentum built over two weeks of street presence is better spent on a single, well-prepared action than allowed to dissipate through repeated small gatherings. The strike date, publicised while the tents were still standing, gives the movement roughly a month to organise before it has to prove that the camps generated lasting support rather than a passing moment of visibility. What a housing strike actually involves A general housing strike is not a familiar tactic in Spain, and nobody close to the organising committees is pretending it will be straightforward. The basic idea, tenants collectively withholding rent payments on a set day, carries real legal risk for individual renters, and trade unions contacted by organisers have been divided over how far to attach their name to the action. Some have offered backing in principle while stopping short of calling on members to miss payments outright. What the movement does have on its side is a housing market that keeps generating headlines for the wrong reasons. Rents in Málaga have risen faster than in almost any other Spanish city over recent years, driven in part by the spread of short-term tourist lets through neighbourhoods that were previously affordable to long-term residents. Housing has climbed to the top of voter concerns ahead of the general election on November 29, meaning the strike date lands squarely in the final stretch of the national campaign rather than in some quiet post-election window. Organisers have kept a parallel channel open throughout. Delegations have continued meeting council officials even after the camp was cleared, pushing for a public housing company with genuine land holdings, stricter enforcement of regional rules targeting empty properties held by large landlords, and protections for tenants facing so-called renoviction, where renovation works are used as a pretext to push out sitting tenants and relet at higher rates. What it means on the ground For the renters the movement claims to represent, young workers unable to get a foothold in the market, families handing over half their monthly income just to keep a roof over their heads, the coming weeks will determine whether two weeks of camping translates into anything more durable than headlines. A strike that visibly bites on November 11 would cement housing as the dominant issue of the local campaign. A muted one hands the initiative straight back to the parties, who will be watching turnout as closely as anyone. For those approaching the Costa del Sol market from the other side, weighing whether buying now makes more sense than staying exposed to a rental market under this much strain, it is worth comparing both routes properly rather than guessing. Marbella New Homes sets out current pricing and availability across the coast, and the figures are worth a look whichever side of the rent-or-buy argument you currently sit on.