In Spain, a homelessness crisis unfolds in Madrid's airport

MADRID (AP) — Every morning at 6 a.m., Teresa sets out in search of work, a shower and a bit of exercise before she returns home. For the past six months, that has been Terminal 4 of Madrid’s international airport.

Teresa, 54, who didn’t want her full name to be used because of safety concerns, is one of the estimated hundreds of homeless people sleeping in the Spanish capital’s airport amid a growing housing crisis in Spain, where rental costs have risen especially fast in cities like Madrid, the country's capital, and Barcelona.

She and others sleeping at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport — the third-busiest airport in Europe in 2023, according to Eurostat — described a situation where for months, authorities have neither helped them find other living arrangements nor have they kicked them out from the corners of the airport that they have occupied with sleeping bags unfurled on the floor as well as blankets, luggage carts and bags.

Soon, things could change.

Spain’s airport operator AENA this week said that it would start limiting who can enter Madrid’s airport during low-travel hours by asking visitors to show their boarding passes. AENA said that the policy would take effect in the next few days, but didn't specify exactly when. It said that exceptions would be made for airport workers and anyone accompanying a traveler.

Teresa, a Spanish-Ecuadorian who said she has lived in Spain for a quarter-century, told The Associated Press on Thursday that she hadn't heard of the new policy. She and her husband would be forced to sleep outside on park benches and other public spaces if they aren’t allowed back in.

“We can’t make demands. We’re squatters,” Teresa said, using a controversial term common in Spain. “Squatters in what is private property. We are aware of that. We want help from authorities, but not a single one has come here.”

For months, a political blame game between officials at different levels of government has meant that the homeless encampments in the airport have largely gone unaddressed. In recent weeks, videos on social media and news reports of the airport's homeless population put a spotlight on the issue.

Madrid’s city council on Thursday said that it had asked Spain’s national government to take charge and come up with a plan to rehabilitate every homeless individual sleeping in the airport. Spanish airports are overseen by AENA, a state-owned publicly listed company. A city council spokesperson said that Madrid's city government had recently called for a meeting with officials from AENA, the regional government of Madrid and several national ministries that declined.

“Without them, there is no possible solution,” said Lucía Martín, a spokesperson for Madrid’s city council division of social policies, family and equality. She said that the national ministries of transport, interior, inclusion, social rights and health declined to participate in a working group.

A day earlier, AENA accused Madrid’s city authorities of providing inadequate help and said that the city government's statements about the unfolding situation confirmed its “dereliction of duty” and abandonment of the airport’s homeless individuals.

“It's like a dog chasing its tail,” said Marta Cecilia Cárdenas of the long list of authorities she was told could help her. Cárdenas, a 58-year-old homeless woman originally from Colombia, said that she had spent several months sleeping in Madrid's airport.

It’s not known how many people are sleeping in Madrid’s airport, through which 66 million travelers transited last year. Spain’s El País newspaper reported that a recent count taken by a charity group identified roughly 400 homeless people in the airport, many of whom, like Teresa, had previously lived in Madrid and were employed in some capacity.

AP wasn't able to confirm that number. Madrid city council officials, meanwhile, said that the Spanish capital's social service teams had helped 94 individuals in April with ties to the city, 12 of whom were rehabilitated into municipal shelters, addiction treatment centers or independent living.

Teresa said she had heard about sleeping in the airport by word of mouth. Before she lost her job, she said she lived in an apartment in Madrid’s Leganés neighborhood, earning a living taking care of older people.

She currently earns 400 euros ($450) per month, working under the table caring for an older woman. With the earnings, Teresa said she maintains a storage unit in the neighborhood that she used to live in. Though the work is sporadic, she said it was still enough to also cover fees for the gym in which she showers daily, pay for transportation, and purchase food.

Over the last decade, ​the average rent in Spain has almost doubled, according to real estate website Idealista, with steeper increases in Madrid and Barcelona. Spain also has a smaller public housing stock than many other European Union countries.

Teresa said that she hopes to find a job soon and leave the airport, whatever authorities may force her to do in the coming days and weeks. She and her husband keep to themselves, avoiding others sleeping in the brightly-lit hallway dotted with sleeping bags who were battling mental health problems, addiction and other issues, she said.

“You end up adjusting to it a bit, accepting it even, but never getting used to it,” Teresa said over the constant din of airline announcements. “I hope to God that it gets better, because this is not life.”

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A person eats sitting on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A person sleeps on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler made yet another visit to Oakmont's famous Church Pews. He also bogeyed a hole after nearly driving the green.

That wasn't enough to knock the top-ranked player out of contention — in the eyes of the betting markets and Scheffler himself.

“Overall definitely not out of the tournament. Today was I think with the way I was hitting it, was easily a day I could have been going home and battled pretty hard to stay in there,” Scheffler said. “I’m 4 over. We’ll see what the lead is after today, but around this golf course I don’t think by any means I’m out of the tournament.”

Scheffler battled his way to a 1-over 71 at the U.S. Open on Friday, a slight improvement on his first-round 73 but still not the type of performance that's made him the game's dominant player the past three years. He has 36 more holes to try to unleash the form that produced wins in three of his last four tournaments.

But after play was suspended because of rain near the end of the second round Friday, only three players had shorter odds on the BetMGM Sportsbook money line, where Scheffler was at 8-1. He was tied for 23rd on the real leaderboard, seven strokes off the lead.

Scheffler began his second round with a birdie on No. 10. After a bogey on 15, his tee shot on the par-4 17th ended up just short of the green. But he needed four more strokes to complete that hole.

“I think it’s just giving it your best on each shot. There was some times today where you feel like you could give up, just based on how difficult the golf course is, how my swing was feeling,” Scheffler said. “I’d get in position there on 17 and make a mess of the hole, and feel like I was making birdie, walk off with bogey. Then I hit it in a bunker on the next hole, and it’s like I’m going to be struggling for par.”

He alternated bogeys and birdies on holes Nos. 1-4. After ending up in the Church Pew bunker on both the third and fourth holes Thursday, his tee shot went in there again on No. 3 a day later.

Still, it could have been much worse. Scheffler got up and down for par from the rough on No. 5 and from a bunker on No. 6.

“Mentally this was as tough as I’ve battled for the whole day,” he said. “There was a lot of stuff going on out there that was not going in my favor necessarily.”

At last year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst, Scheffler played all four rounds over par for the first time at a major championship. He's halfway to a repeat of that.

Or he could storm back into contention.

His patience was on display on No. 9, his final hole of the day. After his tee shot went into the rough, he used a wedge to hit out instead making an aggressive attempt at the green. He ultimately missed a 17-foot putt and took a bogey.

If he's going to make a significant climb up the leaderboard, that will have to wait.

“Going out early tomorrow, maybe get some easier conditions than the guys late in the afternoon. At the U.S. Open I don’t think you’re ever out of the tournament,” he said. “I may be in 25th or 30th place or something like that after today, and like I said, by no means is that out of the tournament.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Scottie Scheffler reacts to his tee shot on the 15th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Scottie Scheffler plays on the third hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Scottie Scheffler tees off on the 16th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Scottie Scheffler reacts to his tee shot on the 15th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Scottie Scheffler plays out of the Church Pews bunker on the third hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)