随着欧洲各地租金和房价飙升并逐渐成为政治议题，活动人士认为，他们难得有机会把住房问题推上议程首位。这场District房地产展和峰会号称欧洲规模最大的房地产活动之一，吸引了多达1.5万人，参会者既有投资机构，也有开发商。然而，上周活动在马德里开幕之际，来自全球140个组织的住房活动人士也蜂拥而至，打算举行自己的“反峰会”，反对将住房视为金融资产。
As soaring rents and house prices across Europe feed into the political discourse, campaigners believe they have a rare opportunity to force housing to the top of the agenda It was billed as one of the largest real-estate events in Europe, attracting as many as 15,000 people ranging from investment firms to developers. But as the District trade show and summit got under way last week in Madrid, housing campaigners from 140 organisations across the globe turned up, intent on holding their own “counter-summit” to push back against the idea of housing as a financial asset.
这些活动人士中的许多人抵达西班牙首都时，87岁的轮椅使用者玛丽卡门·阿瓦卡尔（Maricarmen Abascal）正面临被逐出公寓的困境；她已在那套公寓里住了70年。驱逐引发的愤怒随后演变为持续数日的抗议，以及马德里市中心的一处营地。来自意大利至爱尔兰各地的活动人士汇聚于此，也令人痛心地提醒人们：这场危机具有全球性。
Many of the campaigners arrived in the Spanish capital as Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman who uses a wheelchair, was being evicted from the apartment where she had lived for seven decades. As anger over the eviction gave way to days of protests and an encampment in the heart of Madrid, the presence of campaigners from Italy to Ireland was a poignant reminder of the global dimension of the crisis.