The Council of Ministers is due to take up emergency housing measures on Tuesday. The plan still faces a hard vote over room rentals and automatic contract renewals.
The Council of Ministers is due to take up the emergency decree on Tuesday. Its first political test will come in Congress, where the Government still needs firm support from its parliamentary partners. The measure is meant to help people caught in Spain's housing crisis.
The package is not secure. Drafts circulating among parliamentary groups have led Sumar sources to say that an agreement is not close, despite continued optimism. Two issues remain open: rules for room rentals and the automatic renewal of contracts.
Around 150 tents were reported at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol as protesters demanded approval of the housing measures and limits on rent increases.
The Government says the text follows months of talks. Moncloa sources told SER that it includes rules aimed at vulture funds. The proposal has support from PNV and Junts. That makes opposition from the left difficult for the Executive to understand.
The final votes are the obstacle.
Sánchez announced the decree during the presentation of the 'Premios Vanguardia 2026'. He linked it to the case of Maricarmen. Patriotism, he argued, must include preventing 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 accept its share of the effort.
Catalan News described the proposal as two separate decrees rather than one text. One would address rental extensions, eviction protection until 2030 and a ban on purchases by vulture funds until 2028, while a separate decree would concern 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 moved into the streets. Puerta del Sol has become a new 15-M centered on demands for solutions. Euronews reported that the Government was seeking support before the Council of Ministers met. Negotiations continued over the weekend.
The numbers in Parliament show the decree's main problem. The Government says it has included proposals from all the forces that joined the talks. Sumar still sees major provisions as 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 remain faithful to it. That standard also applies to the housing announcement. This is still a planned decree, not an enacted measure. Demócrata reported that, when it published its article, there was no record of a new royal decree-law already approved by the Council of Ministers and registered in Congress. Existing rental contracts have also been described as subject to extensions until 2028. The Government must still settle the room-rental rules and automatic renewals. Congress must then provide the needed backing.
The announcement is not the final result. 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 wider pressure on long-term tenants as prices rise, gentrification spreads and affordable housing remains scarce in Spain's major cities. An earlier housing dispute showed 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.
