500 Sleeping Rough At Madrid´s Barajas Airport

February 28, 2025February 27, 2025 Madrid Metropolitan madrid news

Madrid´s Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, one of Europe´s busiest,with over 66 million travellers passing through annually, has become a magnet for shelter for more than 500 vulnerable individuals each night.

A potent mixture of high rents and a surge in homelessness in the capital, undocumented migrants awaiting asylum, and drifters unable to afford housing are the main causes for a near ten fold increase in people sleeping in the airport´s 4 terminal buildings over the last 10 years.

The number of people sleeping rough at the airport is expected to “continue to increase”, according to the union for AENA, a state-owned company that manages the majority of Spain’s major airports.

AENA may manage the airports but they are powerless to stop people staying there if they wish as its a public space and the authorities have no choice but to let the homeless sleep there as long as they cause no trouble.

AENA may manage the is a public space, so authorities let the homeless sleep there as long as they cause no trouble.

The Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, said he has offered “full cooperation” to help solve the situation, and told reporters that the Madrid City Council & emergency Samur Social medical teams are already at work.

Almeida said: “We are offering our full cooperation to the airport to be able to find a solution to this problem and to be able to find them the necessary shelter and accommodation, adding that the social service is “operating at all times” in the city of Madrid to “try to help” the homeless.

Airport employees have voiced concerns over the escalating situation. One staff member described the environment: “This is a hotel, and the whole corridor is full of cardboard.” The diverse backgrounds of those seeking shelter include homeless individuals, undocumented migrants awaiting asylum decisions, and unemployed persons unable to secure monthly housing.