Protesters said they would return to the streets across Spain and press on with their encampment in central Madrid after parliament yesterday rejected the government’s attempt to answer their complaints about a mounting housing crisis.
Crowds gathered outside the assembly chanted ‘your profits, our misery’ as legislators voted down the minority government’s decree that had been drawn up to address mass anger over the eviction of an 87-year-old woman.
Protesters expressed exasperation as the debate in parliament over the measures highlighted bitter divisions about how to address the crisis. Earlier yesterday, Spanish media said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez might call a snap election for November if the legislation failed to pass. Sanchez’s office declined to comment on the reports. The legislation had sought to ban evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, impose a two-year rent freeze extension for existing leases and introduce tighter rules for short-term rentals.
The decrees failed after legislators from Catalan separatist party Junts – a sometime ally of the left-wing government – joined the opposition in voting it down, arguing that the proposals would exacerbate matters by reducing housing supply. A second decree proposing automatic and indefinite renewal of rental contracts also failed.
The Tenants’ Union, which had driven the protests, said it would press on with plans for more mass rallies today, piling pressure on the coalition.
The eviction of pensioner Maricarmen Abascal last week triggered protests across Spain. Young people pitched tents in Madrid’s central square and other cities for almost a week, reviving memories of anti-austerity sit-ins sparked by the global financial crisis in 2008-12.
“The encampment will continue and will continue expanding to other neighbourhoods. We’re aiming for a general strike,” Tenants’ Union spokesperson Alicia del Rio said after the decrees were struck down. Abascal’s eviction unleashed anger over the cost of housing, with many young people living with parents past 30 years of age.
Rents have doubled over the last decade with average prices reaching €1,176 ($1,323) a month, equivalent to 98.7 per cent of the average salary for a young person, according to the Youth Council of Spain.
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