TENANTS in Spain face days of uncertainty as a hard-fought package of housing measures goes before parliament this week.
The proposals include stronger protection against evictions and caps on rent increases, as the government seeks to tackle the country’s worsening housing crisis.
If approved by parliament in a special vote on Friday, the measures would provide relief to more than five million people, health minister Monica Garcia said.
But the outcome of the vote is far from certain, with key parliamentary groups yet to say whether they will support the proposal.
“Neither of the two decrees is a done deal or guaranteed to be approved,” government sources told El Pais. “We’ve taken a gamble.”
The left-wing coalition government, made up of the PSOE and Sumar, agreed on the measures on Tuesday after weeks of negotiations.
The two decrees now face a crucial test in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies, where they need more votes in favour than against to pass.
Because the coalition does not have a majority of its own, it must rely on support from smaller parties to get the decrees through.
The conservative Partido Popular (PP), Vox and UPN are expected to vote against them, giving them 171 votes between them.
That leaves the government dependent on parties including right-wing Junts and far-left Podemos, neither of which has revealed its position.
If Podemos’ four MPs vote in favour, the government and its left-wing allies could reach 172 votes – just one more than the opposition.
Junts, which has seven MPs, could then determine whether the measures pass by voting against them, supporting them or abstaining.
But the party has given the government a cryptic response when asked how it will vote, El Pais reported, citing government sources.
“Watch the scoreboard on the day of the vote,” the sources quoted a Junts spokesperson as saying.
Podemos has also kept its cards close to its chest, with its four MPs refusing to say on Tuesday which way they would vote.
According to an X post by Garcia on Tuesday, the measures would block evictions for vulnerable groups until 2030 and prevent investment firms from buying property until 2028.
The decrees also include the automatic extension of rental contracts until 2028 and tighter regulation of short-term and room rentals.
Rent increases would be capped at rates calculated monthly by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE), preventing landlords from adding anything on top.
The measures would also introduce tax breaks for low-income tenants and landlords who rent their properties at below-market rates.
Spain’s cabinet scrambled to put together the proposal after thousands of people rallied across the country last weekend in protest at the ongoing housing crisis.
Demonstrators marched in Madrid, Malaga, Sevilla and Cadiz, demanding greater tenant protections and improved access to homes.
Protesters have been sleeping in tents in Madrid’s historic Puerta del Sol square since Saturday, with organisers saying they will not leave until their demands are met.
A similar demonstration took place in Barcelona on Tuesday evening, as more than 100 protestors pitched around 20 tents in Plaza de Catalunya.
The protests came after 87-year-old Maria del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, was evicted from her Madrid home last Wednesday.
Maricarmen, who uses a wheelchair, was carried out of her home on a stretcher after police cleared hundreds of protesters who had gathered to try to prevent the eviction.
She had lived in the Retiro neighbourhood since 1956, when her father first rented the property.
The building was later sold to investment company Urbagestión, which increased her rent from around €500 to €2,650 a month.
When the company found Maricarmen could not afford the new rent, it reduced it to €1,650 – still more than her €1,350 pension could cover.
Her eviction was attempted three times before authorities finally succeeded on the fourth attempt.
Her case has since become a rallying cry for Spain’s housing movement.
Maricarmen’s lawyer, Beatriz Duro, announced on Tuesday that the pensioner would eventually be allowed to return home after striking a new rental deal with the property owners.
According to Duro, Maricarmen’s new rent will be “similar to what she had been paying” before Urbagestión bought her home.
The pensioner will be able to return to her apartment after leaving hospital, where she is being treated for exhaustion, Duro said.
She added that the deal has not yet been signed and that her client will sign it when she feels better.
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