Spain approves emergency housing measures after Sánchez calls snap election

Spain’s government approved two emergency housing decrees on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap general election for November 29 following parliament’s rejection of earlier housing measures.

The new package contains 21 measures and will be submitted to parliament’s 69-member standing commission for ratification. According to Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez, it includes protections for vulnerable people facing eviction through 2030, regulation of room rentals, a new tax on seasonal leases lasting from 32 days to 11 months, a ban on speculative property purchases and tax exemptions for landlords.

The measures resemble proposals defeated on Friday, including protections for vulnerable tenants. That vote deepened the legislative difficulties facing Sánchez’s minority coalition. In announcing the election, Sánchez said he wanted to secure a broader progressive majority, while acknowledging that his government had made mistakes and fallen short of some promises.

Housing protests have spread across Spain since the September eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for decades. Tens of thousands demonstrated in several cities over the weekend. Another large march in Barcelona on Monday was mostly peaceful, although groups of activists later clashed with police, threw rocks and set fire to rubbish bins.

Opinion polls generally place the conservative People’s Party ahead of Sánchez’s Socialists, though it may need support from the far-right Vox party to form a government.