Spanish parliament rejects housing measures as renters protest

Spain’s parliament rejected two emergency housing decrees on Friday, dealing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez a defeat as hundreds of protesters gathered outside Congress to demand relief from rising rents.

The measures followed nationwide protests sparked by the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman, from her Madrid home. Lawmakers rejected the first decree by 178 votes to 172 and the second by 184 to 166. Both needed parliamentary approval to remain in force.

The first decree would have suspended evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030 and extended by two years rental leases due to expire before 2028. It also included higher taxes on tourist apartments and restrictions on purchases by investment funds the government calls “vulture funds,” according to the BBC. Al Jazeera reported that it also proposed tighter restrictions on short-term leases and tax incentives to encourage renting and housing construction.

The second decree would have automatically renewed expiring rental contracts, a central demand of the tenants’ movement. Al Jazeera reported that an owner seeking to end such a contract would have had to pay the tenant 12 months’ rent.

Sánchez urged lawmakers to back the measures. “I don’t ask you, I beg you to be brave and consistent,” he said before the votes, according to the BBC. “Because they are not just ambitious measures, they are necessary.”

His Socialist-led coalition lacks a majority in Congress. The conservative People’s Party and far-right Vox opposed both decrees, as did Together for Catalonia, known as Junts, a Catalan pro-independence party whose support the government had sought.

Junts lawmaker Miriam Nogueras said the proposals would not stop speculation or evictions. “These decrees still allow speculators to buy property and to evict people,” she said, according to Al Jazeera. She argued that owners could withdraw homes from the rental market, pushing prices higher. People’s Party lawmaker Juan Bravo said, “Housing doesn’t get cheaper with decrees, it gets cheaper with more homes.”

Outside Congress, demonstrators chanted “shame on you” and “your profits, our misery” after the votes. The protests grew after Abascal was evicted from the home where she had lived all her life. Al Jazeera, citing Spanish newspaper El País, reported that the property’s owner, Urbagestion, raised her rent from 500 euros to 2,650 euros a month, nearly twice her monthly pension of 1,350 euros. The BBC reported that the company had negotiated her return at a low rent; Al Jazeera described the arrangement as a preliminary agreement.

Protests have continued in Madrid and other cities. The Tenants’ Union said it was ending a tent protest in central Madrid to take its campaign into neighbourhoods and residential buildings. Protesters have also called for a general strike over housing.

The defeats have heightened speculation that Sánchez could call an early election, the BBC reported. The next general election was not due until next summer.