Congress rejects housing decrees with no votes from Junts, PP, and Vox

Congress has rejected the Spanish government's decrees on housing measures which, among other things, prohibited evictions of vulnerable families and extended rental contracts.

The decrees failed to garner sufficient support after the 'no' votes from Junts, the People's Party, and Vox.

Junts kept their no vote despite the offer from Spain's Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, to modify the texts by processing them as a bill.

Some members of the public in the guest gallery of the chamber shouted "the vulture funds rule the Congress" after the voting, before being expelled from the building. 

Before the vote, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wanted to take the floor to make a final appeal to the MPs of PP, Vox and Junts, warning them of the consequences of their vote.

He has asked them to "be brave" because, if the decrees fail, "the damage" that will be generated in society "will be enormous," and that "history will judge you sooner than you think, and more forcefully than you imagine."

While the members of congress exchanged reproaches inside the chamber, hundreds of people gathered outside the doors of the building, many coming from the camp set up in the Puerta del Sol.

The demonstrators shouted slogans calling for a general strike and accusing the Spanish government of being "hypocritical and rentier."

Earlier in the day, Junts' Mònica Sales took aim at Catalan president Salvador Illa, who had dubbed it "incomprehensible and irresponsible" that Junts would reject the two decrees in Friday afternoon's vote. "It is incomprehensible and irresponsible to ask us to vote in favor of some bad decrees that would be a defeat for the Catalans simply to avoid a defeat for the Socialist Party," Sales said.

Housing decrees

The decrees were announced earlier in the week as a response to the high-profile eviction of an 87-year-old wheelchair user in Madrid, an incident which has sparked a new wave of protests across the country, including hundreds of tents set up in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square, and a similar camp-out demonstration in Barcelona's Plaça Catalunya. 

The highly anticipated housing decrees came in the form of two separate texts when announced on Tuesday. 

The first decree includes extending eviction protections until 2030, regulating seasonal and room rentals, banning "vulture funds" from purchasing homes until 2028, and extending by two years any active rental contracts due to expire before December 31, 2028.

The second decree incorporates the agreement to establish automatic renewal for rental contracts, one of the key issues that had caused friction between the Socialists and Sumar.

Early elections?

Junts' announced opposition to the housing decrees has led Socialist Party leaders to analyze potential future scenarios, including the hypothetical calling of early elections.

Socialist sources acknowledge that the housing demonstrations, combined with the fact that the PP, Vox, and Junts are poised to defeat the housing decrees on Friday, opens a window of opportunity.

Several dates are under consideration, including November 29.

Pedro Sánchez's team maintains that, as of today, they are “not entertaining this hypothesis,” though they do not rule out examining the possibility of an election scenario in the coming days.

In any case, the same sources state that there is currently “no crisis cabinet” and that they must wait to see the outcome of Friday afternoon's vote.