Spanish housing decree at risk from opposition by the Junts party

The chances that Spain’s Congress will approve a decree aimed at curbing the housing crisis faded on Thursday after the Catalan party Junts raised last-minute issues and asked the government to draft a new proposal ahead of a planned vote.

Junts, a centre-right separatist party with seven MPs, argued that the proposed measures would worsen the situation by reducing the housing supply. These include a ban on evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, a two-year extension of the rent freeze for existing rental contracts and stricter rules for short-term rentals.

“Many of the measures included will produce the opposite effect to what is intended: they will reduce the supply of rental housing, raise prices and make access to housing even more difficult for people with limited financial means,” Junts said in a statement.

The left-wing minority government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has only 147 seats in the 350-seat chamber and relies on the support of a host of smaller parties to pass legislation.

Opposition parties have already signalled that they will not support the decree, one of two drafted by Spain’s socialist government after protests sparked by the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal last week.

Thousands of activists, mostly young, set up camps in Madrid’s main square and in other Spanish cities to protest against the eviction and call for major reforms.

A second decree, which would allow the automatic and indefinite renewal of rental contracts, was expected to fail, not securing the minimum support required from Spain’s divided Congress.