Spanish lawmakers on Thursday approved one of two housing decrees whose rejection by parliament last month triggered a November 29 early general election, a day after Wednesday's general strike in protest over housing costs, Reuters reported from Madrid.

Source: Reuters

By a one-vote margin, the standing body of 69 caretaker deputies who remain in place after parliament's dissolution passed the decree, which includes rent caps, a temporary ban on evictions and limits on corporate purchases of residential property, Reuters said. The vote was 35 to 34, Al Jazeera reported.

Source: Reuters

What passed — and what was rejected

The approved decree extends protections against evictions for tenants deemed by social services to be in a precarious financial or social position, as long as regional authorities cannot offer them an alternative residence, Al Jazeera reported. Another measure in the package sought to reduce real estate speculation by stopping any company involved in the real estate market from buying properties for less than 70 percent of their value.

Source: Al Jazeera

The body rejected, also by one vote, another measure, sought by tenants' associations, calling for the automatic renewal of rental contracts, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

A detailed report of the package by Open Chronicle said the approved decree extends eviction protection for vulnerable tenants until 2030 where no alternative housing is available, restricts rent increases where existing rents exceed neighbourhood reference prices, and includes a tax on tourist rentals and government-backed help with home down payments. Those extra provisions were listed in that report and were not itemised in the Reuters or Al Jazeera accounts.

Source: Open Chronicle

This vote is the parliamentary result that followed Wednesday's nationwide strike over housing costs, Spain's first general strike in 14 years, which Awaaz Punjab reported on November 11. Read the earlier report: Spain's general strike over housing

How Spain got here

The leftist government's measures, aimed at tackling rising housing costs, came into effect temporarily when the decrees were published in the official state gazette in early October, Reuters said. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the general election, which had been scheduled for 2027, after parliament failed to pass the decrees, Al Jazeera reported.

Source: Reuters

Large demonstrations over unaffordable housing swept the country in September after televised images of the eviction of 87-year-old Maria del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, shocked many Spaniards, and protest camps sprang up in several cities, the largest in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, Al Jazeera reported. Her death in October caused national uproar and prompted Sanchez's minority government to rush to present the two decrees, it added.

Source: Al Jazeera

On Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets in a 24-hour walkout over soaring rents and the high cost of living, in a strike the main unions called after the decrees were blocked, Al Jazeera reported. Sanchez then introduced another two decrees almost identical to the rejected ones and presented them to the smaller parliamentary body that voted on Thursday.

Source: Al Jazeera

The numbers behind the crisis

Estimates attributed to the Bank of Spain suggest a shortage of approximately 750,000 homes — yaani about seven and a half lakh homes — which could exceed one million by 2028 if construction does not catch up, according to reporting cited by Open Chronicle. Figures from the Youth Council of Spain put average monthly rent at about 1,176 euros, equivalent to nearly 99 percent of the average monthly salary of a young person, the same reporting said. Both figures are estimates and vary by city and household.

Source: Open Chronicle

Opposition vows repeal; what happens next

Opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, whose conservative People's Party leads in opinion polls, said on Wednesday he would repeal the decrees if he becomes prime minister, Reuters reported. The opposition has argued that the measures only reduce housing supply and push up prices, and conservative parties have proposed a building programme as their solution to the crisis, Al Jazeera reported.

Source: Reuters

Spain's interim lower house ratified the measures on Thursday, but their duration will depend on the outcome of the snap election scheduled for later in November, Al Jazeera said. That means the decree approved by a single vote this week could be repealed by a new government within weeks — or survive if the election returns a parliament willing to keep it.

Source: Al Jazeera