Congress is due to vote on Friday on two housing decrees approved by the Spanish cabinet on September 29. It must ratify them within the constitutional 30-day period or they could lose force.
The vote follows the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen in Madrid. An investment company bought her home and sought to raise the rent by 275 percent, prompting protests in Madrid and other cities.
Pedro Sánchez said on Wednesday he was reasonably confident the measures would pass. Speaking at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, he accused Partido Popular leaders of lacking humanity and sensitivity after the party announced it would oppose the decrees.
The package would also extend by two years rental contracts expiring by December 31, 2028. That would give temporary protection to tenants whose agreements are about to end.
The vote will determine whether the decrees stay in force. They took effect after cabinet approval, but remain temporary without congressional ratification.
The first decree targets speculative property purchases and evictions. It would allow authorities to suspend evictions involving vulnerable people without alternative housing until the end of 2030. An earlier version set the deadline at 2028, but the final protection was extended.
The measure also targets so-called vulture funds. It defines them as companies that buy properties or portfolios of unpaid mortgage loans for less than 70 percent of market value to maximise returns. The decree would bar those funds from buying homes until 2028.
The government has directed its sharpest criticism at those investment funds. BBC and Al Jazeera reports described the dispute as a major test of Sánchez's ability to turn emergency housing protections into binding policy without a guaranteed majority.
Junts left negotiations on September 28, making votes from Podemos and other parliamentary groups basic to the government's plan.
The government requested an extraordinary sitting on Friday. The decrees could lapse if Congress does not approve them within the constitutional 30-day period.
Maricarmen's eviction gave the first decree a clear human focus. She was removed from her home last week after the investment company sought the steep rent increase. Protesters then set up camp in central Madrid. The action spread to other cities and became a symbol of the wider tenant movement.
The second decree was due to appear on Thursday in the Boletín Oficial del Estado. El País reported that it would provide for automatic renewal when rental contracts expire.
A landlord seeking to end a contract would have to pay the tenant at least 12 months of rent. The basic exceptions would cover cases listed in the decree, including when the owner or a close relative needs the property.
Tenant unions have demanded automatic renewal for months, and their protest camp in Madrid added pressure on the government. The wider package also addresses short-term rentals and rooms.
The right opposes the renewal measure. Sánchez has framed the issue as a matter of humanity, not ideology, pointing to people facing eviction or priced out of both renting and buying a home.
The PP says Sánchez's government has failed to stop housing prices from rising since it came to power in 2018.
Sánchez's government needs support beyond its own camp. The PP is preparing to reject both decrees, while Junts's withdrawal has made votes from Podemos and other groups more impressive.
The measures will not resolve Spain's housing crisis. They are temporary emergency decrees, not permanent legislation: one addresses speculative acquisitions and evictions, while the other covers rental renewals and compensation.
The Madrid case has pushed the vote beyond technical regulation. Sánchez has put the human cost at the centre of his argument. Friday's result will show whether that argument can overcome the government's lack of a majority.
