Pedro Sanchez’s radical housing reform faces defeat in Parliament after his Catalan separatist allies refuse to back it

Spain's government is poised to lose crucial votes in Parliament on Friday to ratify emergency housing measures, as protests continue demanding government action to help renters. The measures are designed to address the nation's housing affordability crisis. The Catalan separatist party Junts, which is essential for the approval of the two government decrees, announced it will vote against them.

The emergency measures aim to prevent evictions of vulnerable people, make real estate speculation more difficult, impose tighter restrictions on short-term leases, and provide tax incentives for renting and housing construction. The second decree, however, is more controversial, as it proposes making leases automatically renewable, effectively making them indefinite.

A property owner would need to pay a tenant 12 months of rent to break the contract. The eviction of an 87-year-old woman, Maricarmen Abascal, sparked protests and a camp-in in Madrid's main square, becoming a symbol for the fight against high housing costs in Spain. Abascal, currently in the hospital, has been promised she will be allowed to return to her apartment after immense public and political pressure.