Spain’s Congress faced uncertainty regarding the passage of a housing decree on Thursday, October 1, 2026, after the Catalan party Junts raised objections and requested a new proposal. The legislative challenge occurred one day before a scheduled vote in the 350-seat chamber. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government, led by the Socialist party, holds 147 seats and requires support from smaller parties, including Junts, to pass legislation.
The government drafted two decrees following public protests over the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal last week. In response to the eviction, thousands of activists established encampments in Madrid’s main square and other cities to demand housing reforms. One of the decrees includes a ban on evicting vulnerable tenants until 2030, a two-year extension of rent freezes for current leases, and stricter regulations for short-term rentals.
Junts, a center-right separatist party with seven members of parliament, stated that the proposed measures would reduce housing supply and increase prices. The party argued the decree would make it more difficult for individuals with limited financial resources to access housing. Meanwhile, a second decree that would allow the automatic and indefinite renewal of rental contracts was already expected to fail due to a lack of support in the fractured Congress.
The scale of the impact involves the Spanish rental market, though specific totals for the number of affected households or the exact euro value of the rent freeze were not reported. If the measures are rejected, renters will not see the planned legal right to indefinite contract renewals, and short-term rental markets will not face the proposed tightening of rules. This lack of legislative progress may sustain the current market conditions that prompted the recent nationwide demonstrations.
The rejection of these decrees by Junts establishes the party’s role as a pivotal kingmaker in the minority government’s agenda. While Junts has called for a new proposal, the government has not yet indicated if it will revise the text. A vote on the current measures was scheduled for Friday, October 2, 2026, though the outcome remains uncertain following the opposition's announcements.