Spain housing votes set to fail as Junts withdraws support amid protests
Spain's government is set to lose two crucial parliamentary votes on Friday on a package of emergency housing measures, a setback that comes as protesters march on Parliament seeking relief for renters. The Catalan separatist party Junts, whose support is essential for the measures to pass, said it would vote against them.
With Junts opposed, and the centre-right Popular Party and far-right Vox also voting against the decrees, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faces what appears to be a major legislative defeat. Spanish media speculated that Sanchez could consider calling early elections instead of waiting until next year, but he did not speak on arriving at Parliament in Madrid, and his office did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press on the possibility.
The measures were brought in after a wave of public anger over the televised eviction last week of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal in Madrid, which triggered protests and a sit-in at the city's main square. Abascal has since become a symbol of the struggle over housing costs in Spain, where many people cannot afford to buy homes and are under pressure from a small rental market. The company that evicted her later reversed its position under public and political pressure and said she could return to the flat. Abascal is in hospital after being removed from her home on a stretcher, but her lawyer said she was happy to know she would be going home.
Parliament's 350-seat lower house began its session at 11 am. The first decree is meant to stop evictions of vulnerable people such as Abascal, make property speculation harder, tighten rules on short-term rentals, and offer tax incentives to encourage renting and homebuilding. The second, more controversial decree would make rental agreements renew automatically when they expire, in effect making them indefinite. Under it, a property owner would have to pay a tenant 12 months' rent to end the contract.
Junts said the government's housing measures would push up housing costs by cutting the supply of available properties and would fail to stop speculators, and urged the government to rethink them. The party is among the smaller groups Sanchez relied on to form a government in 2023 and has remained a difficult ally. Its leader, Carles Puigdemont, has lived in Belgium since leaving Spain after leading the failed 2017 attempt to make Catalonia independent. If the votes go as expected, Sanchez's coalition will lose both decrees, deepening the political pressure linked to Spain's housing crisis.
