// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Protesters blame 'vulture funds' for Spain's housing crisis
Jorge Moreno (left) says "vulture funds" are hiking up rents, while Pierina Nicuray points out that there is "a lack of homes" in Spain
Pierina Nicuray, a 21-year-old university graduate, has spent a week camped out in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square.
Like many of the hundreds of others who have pitched their tents here to protest at Spain's housing crisis, she has no doubts when it comes to diagnosing the cause.
"It's the same problem as always," she says. "A lack of homes."
She adds: "Landlords are taking advantage of the situation to raise rentals, and then there's also Airbnb."
Jorge Moreno, a 19-year-old film-dubbing student who has also been living in a tent here in central Madrid for the last few days, agrees.
"There are so many homes standing empty because they have been bought by vulture funds and investment funds which hike up the rent of people living in properties until they get rid of them," says Jorge, who lives with his mother and fears it will be a long time before he can afford a home of his own.
"They've been making a business of housing for a long time," he adds. "But it's an abusive business which stops Spaniards from being able to live in a decent home."
His and Pierina's diagnoses are frequently voiced by fellow protesters, ordinary Spaniards and even the Spanish government.
On presenting a recent package of emergency measures to tackle the housing problem, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was legislating "against those who consider housing just another object on the market with which to speculate".