The Council of Ministers is set to take up the emergency decree on Tuesday. Its first political test will come in Congress, where the Government still needs firm backing from its parliamentary partners. The measure is intended to help people caught in Spain's housing crisis.
The package is far from secure. Drafts circulating among parliamentary groups have led Sumar sources to say an agreement is not close, despite continued optimism. Two issues remain unresolved: rules for room rentals and automatic contract renewals.
Protesters have also taken to the streets. Euronews reported around 150 tents at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, where demonstrators called for the housing measures to be approved and for limits on rent increases.
The Government says the text follows months of talks. Moncloa sources told SER it includes rules targeting vulture funds. PNV and Junts support the proposal, leaving the Executive struggling to understand opposition from the left.
The final votes remain the obstacle.
Sánchez announced the decree during the presentation of the 'Premios Vanguardia 2026'. He tied it to the case of Maricarmen. Patriotism, he argued, must include keeping an 87-year-old woman from ending up on the street after spending her life in the same home. He also said the Government would act responsibly and that the State had to bear its share of the effort.
Catalan News described the proposal as two separate decrees. One would extend rental contracts and protect tenants from eviction until 2030, while another measure would ban purchases by vulture funds until 2028. A separate decree would cover automatic contract renewals.
The Prime Minister appealed to Parliament to make the final effort needed to pass the text in the Congreso de los Diputados. Talks with several parties began after public anger over Maricarmen's eviction. The housing issue has also spilled into the streets, with Puerta del Sol becoming a new 15-M focused on demands for solutions. Euronews reported that the Government was seeking support ahead of the Council of Ministers meeting. Negotiations continued over the weekend.
The numbers in Parliament expose the decree's basic problem. The Government says it has included proposals from all the forces that joined the talks. Sumar still considers major provisions unsettled. Support from PNV and Junts does not remove the need for an agreement with the left before the Council of Ministers acts.
Sánchez framed his speech around journalism's duty to seek the truth and stay faithful to it. That standard applies to the housing announcement, too. The decree remains planned and has not been enacted. Demócrata reported that, when its article was published, there was no record of a new royal decree-law approved by the Council of Ministers and registered in Congress. Existing rental contracts have also been described as eligible for extensions until 2028. The Government must still settle the room-rental rules and automatic renewals. Congress must then provide the necessary backing.
The announcement is not the final outcome. Reuters reported that the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman who had lived in the Madrid home for more than 70 years, triggered the Government's emergency response. Her case has come to represent mounting pressure on long-term tenants as prices rise and gentrification spreads, while affordable housing remains scarce in Spain's major cities. An earlier housing dispute exposed another divide: how protections should distinguish investment funds from small property owners. The decree will be judged by its final text and its vote in Congress.
