Spain’s parliament has rejected two emergency decrees on rents and evictions, a serious defeat for the left-wing minority government as the country’s housing crisis deepens and street protests spread.

The decrees were drawn up by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a Socialist, to offset the impact of rising rents and the eviction of vulnerable tenants. In a roll-call vote in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies on Friday, they were opposed by the conservative People’s Party (PP), the far-right Vox, the conservative Catalan separatist party Junts and two other MPs. Sánchez had been counting on Junts to tip the balance.

The first decree was defeated by 178 votes to 172, and the second by 184 votes to 166. The minority government struggles to pass almost any legislation, as Junts, which has seven MPs, withdrew its support months ago.

Sánchez’s appeals fall on deaf ears

Sánchez intervened personally in the debate, urging MPs to back the decrees to avoid significant “damage” to society. Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez, who also belongs to the governing Socialist Party (PSOE), said the vote would show whether MPs stood with citizens or with the “speculative investment funds” seeking to dominate the housing market. “It is the hour of truth,” she said, repeating a phrase used earlier by Sánchez that had fuelled rumours of an early election. Sánchez’s office says no decision on calling one has been taken.

The measures were drawn up after the eviction on 23 September of 87-year-old Mari Carmen Abascal from the home where she had lived for decades, and the mass protests that followed. The package would have extended protection from evictions, tightened the rules on rental contracts, barred speculative investment funds from buying private homes until 2028, and introduced tax relief for tenants and landlords. A second decree would have extended by two years any lease due to expire before the end of 2028.

High demand, too few new homes

Spain’s housing crisis has several causes. The country’s population has grown by three million, or 7%, since 2015. Tourism has also surged, and the number of overnight stays in tourist accommodation has doubled since 2018, according to the newspaper El País.

In popular tourist areas such as the Balearic Islands, Alicante, Malaga and the Canary Islands, foreign buyers compete with locals for homes, pushing prices up. At the same time, far fewer new homes are being built than are needed. The Bank of Spain estimates that, unless something changes, the country will be short of at least 1 million homes by 2028.

The opposition’s case

Opposition MPs argue that the proposed measures would shrink the supply of new homes even further and push rents higher still. Junts MP Miriam Nogueras called on the government to withdraw the decrees and open fresh talks on amending them. PP MP Juan Bravo argued that affordability depends on building more homes rather than on emergency decrees. Sánchez had hoped until the last moment that Junts would approve at least the first decree, but it did not.

The government had presented the decrees as a response to growing anger among Spaniards who cannot find affordable housing, or who face constant rent rises under the threat of eviction. The case that sparked the greatest outrage was that of Abascal, who was forcibly removed by police from the home in which she had spent almost her entire life.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid and other Spanish cities under the slogan “Not one more Maricarmen”. In Madrid, demonstrators set up camp in the central Puerta del Sol square, outside the seat of the conservative-led regional government. Similar protests have taken place in Barcelona, Seville and Malaga, and crowds outside parliament chanted “Your profits, our misery” as the result was announced.