Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across Madrid and other Spanish cities on October 3, 2026, demanding affordable housing and emergency tenant protections just a day after conservative-dominated parliament rejected two government decrees intended to ease the nation’s severe housing affordability crisis, aljazeera.com reported.
Parliament Defeats Emergency Housing Decrees
The first decree aimed to stop evictions of vulnerable people, make real estate speculation harder, impose tighter restrictions on short-term leases, and provide tax incentives for rental construction. The second proposed making leases automatically renew upon expiration, requiring property owners to pay tenants 12 months of rent to break a contract.
The right-wing Catalan separatist party Junts joined the centre-right Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox in voting against the measures, according to aljazeera.com. Miriam Nogueras of Junts argued on X that the decrees would lead owners to remove properties from the rental market and drive prices higher, adding that the government had already spent eight years failing to protect people or curb vulture funds.
Eviction of 87-Year-Old Maricarmen Abascal Sparks Nationwide Protests
Public outrage erupted nationwide following the late September eviction of 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal from her Madrid apartment of 70 years, ctvnews.ca reported. An international investment fund bought her building and hiked her rent by more than 200 percent to roughly $1,880 a month, or 230 percent according to theguardian.com, aiming to clear out long-term tenants for tourist apartments.
Although Abascal’s representatives stated she has since returned to her home, she became the symbol of Spain’s housing crisis. CTV News noted that around 1,000 protesters spent a week camped out in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square. By October 3, 2026, demonstrations spread to more than 50 cities, with authorities estimating 70,000 participants in Madrid alone, according to The Guardian. Protesters chanted slogans such as “Your profits, our misery” and carried signs reading “Looking for an apartment, selling a kidney,” as reported by Yahoo! Finance Canada.
Demonstrations turned volatile in several locations. In Valencia, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up crowds after roughly 30 protesters entered the City of Arts and Sciences landmark.
Political Fallout and Potential Snap Elections
The legislative defeat has intensified speculation that Prime Minister Sánchez could call a snap general election for as early as November 29, 2026, instead of waiting for the current legislative term to end in the summer of 2027, according to aljazeera.com and El Diario reports. Following the parliamentary vote, Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo urged Sánchez to call early elections, claiming the prime minister lacked backing from both the streets and parliament.
Housing costs in Spain have climbed sharply over the past decade, with average rents nearly doubling and asking prices rising by about 90 percent, according to Idealista data cited by CTV News. Yahoo! Government data indicates that 26 percent of Spanish renters spend an average of 40 percent of their income on rent and utilities, well above the European Union average of 18 percent.
Why Junts Rejected Spain Housing Decrees
Frequently Asked Questions About Spain’s Housing Crisis
Why did the Catalan party Junts vote against the government’s housing decrees?
Junts argued that the proposed decrees lacked rigor and would ultimately tighten the housing market by causing property owners to remove their flats from the rental sector, driving prices up further.
How does Spain’s public housing stock compare to the rest of the European Union?
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What specific measures did the rejected rental decrees include?
The decrees proposed halting evictions for vulnerable tenants, restricting short-term and room-by-room lettings, providing tax incentives for construction, and enforcing automatic lease renewals that required landlords to pay 12 months of rent to break a contract.
“We are demanding a fundamental right: decent housing, stability and conditions allowing us to construct a decent life project.”
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