Mass Protests Erupt Across Spain Following Parliamentary Rejection of Emergency Housing Bill

Tens of thousands of people have rallied across Spain as protests have spread since the conservative-dominated parliament rejected a bill proposing measures to tackle a housing crisis. Parliament on Friday voted down two decrees proposed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority left-wing coalition government that were intended to address the housing crisis.

The protests erupted late last month after an 87-year-old woman was evicted from her home of 70 years in the capital, Madrid. Maria del Carmen Abascal’s eviction came after an international investment fund bought her building and hiked the rent. Local media reports have suggested that Sanchez could call snap elections for as early as November after watching the strength of Saturday’s protests across the country. Spain’s current legislative term is set to end next summer.

The emergency measures proposed by Spain’s leftist government to tackle the country’s housing affordability crisis failed to pass on Friday. The government had proposed two measures to protect renters in the country. The first decree was meant to stop evictions of vulnerable people, make real estate speculation harder, impose tighter restrictions on short-term leases and provide tax incentives to encourage renting and the construction of housing. The second decree proposed making leases automatically renew when they are set to expire, essentially making them indefinite, requiring a property owner to pay a tenant 12 months of rent to break the contract.

Sanchez, who leads a coalition government composed of his Socialist Party and the far-left Sumar, appealed to lawmakers in the run-up to the vote to put aside political calculations and pressure. “Think about ordinary people, about those who most need the protection of public institutions. Think about the millions of young people who cannot afford to move out of their parents’ homes. Think about the families living with the constant anxiety of ever-rising rents,” he said before the voting.

However, the government’s proposed measures were shot down by the majority of the 350-seat lower house of parliament. The right-wing Catalan separatist party Junts refused to back the housing decrees, saying they would ultimately tighten the housing market. The centre-right Popular Party and far-right Vox also voted against the measures. Miriam Nogueras of Junts argued the decrees would lead only to owners removing their properties from the rental market and driving up prices even further.

Health Minister Monica Garcia stated on X that right-wing parties had voted for a feudal economy. Meanwhile, Marta Soler Gallart, head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Barcelona, explained that neither decree addressed the housing problem in the medium or long term. Protests continued to grow after Maria del Carmen Abascal became the face of the country’s housing crisis, with demonstrators demanding immediate government action.