Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday said he was “reasonably optimistic” that parliament would approve housing measures his minority government adopted after nationwide protests sparked by a Madrid pensioner’s eviction.
Last week’s eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal catalysed long-running anger about runaway housing costs and thrust the issue to the forefront of national politics ahead of a general election next year.
But Sánchez’s Socialist-led coalition faces the arduous task of convincing enough parties in a heavily fragmented parliament to pass two decrees on Friday.
“I am reasonably optimistic about the validation,” Sánchez said about his government’s decrees during a joint press conference in Madrid with French President Emmanuel Macron.
A standout measure is a ban until the end of 2030 on evicting tenants deemed vulnerable and who have no alternative housing, a scenario raised by Abascal’s case.
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Any tenant — even if not deemed vulnerable — with no alternative accommodation but whose property is owned by a company identified as a “vulture fund” will also be protected from eviction.
The government also seeks to ban until the end of 2028 the acquisition of properties by companies with “speculative” aims, a demand of the protesters who regularly denounce “vulture funds”.
The legislation defines them as companies which acquire real estate or portfolios of unpaid mortgage loans at prices below 70 percent of the market value with a view to maximising profit afterwards.
The automatic renewal of tenant contracts, another key demand of protesters, is also included but is viewed by analysts as harder to pass.
The main opposition conservative People’s Party (PP), the largest group in parliament, has announced it will reject the measures, while the support of a host of small formations is unclear.
Sánchez lashed out at PP criticism of his housing policy, saying he “liked being a traitor” to “vulture funds and those who speculate with housing”.
The Socialist premier, accused of failing to contain housing prices since taking office in 2018, said “we have made an enormous negotiating effort” and called on parliament to approve the decrees as a “question of humanity”.
