Spain faces fresh housing protests after parliament rejects tenant protections

Housing activists camp in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol on October 2, 2026 as protests over soaring rents and evictions continue across Spain. — AFP pic

First Published: Saturday, 03 Oct 2026 1:39 PM MYT

MADRID, Oct 3 — Fresh protests over housing are due to take place in Madrid and other Spanish cities today, a day after parliament rejected two government measures to strengthen protection for tenants.

The government introduced the measures after nationwide protests following the eviction, on a stretcher, of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from a Madrid apartment she had occupied for around seven decades.

The defeat was another political setback for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and has renewed questions over whether his minority government can survive until the next scheduled general election in 2027.

Catalan separatist party Junts — whose support was essential to approve the two decrees — voted against them, arguing they lacked rigour.

After the vote, the leader of the main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP), Alberto Nunez Feijoo, urged Sanchez to “call elections as soon as possible”.

After eight years in power, Sanchez had the backing of “neither the streets nor parliament”, he added.

Recent opinion polls have generally placed the opposition Popular Party ahead of the Socialists.

The Tenants’ Union, which has been coordinating the protests, has called for demonstrations today in more than 50 cities.

“There is an irreparable disconnect between what the people want and what the parties vote for,” it said in a statement.

In Madrid, activists and protesters have been camping for about a week in Puerta del Sol, one of the capital’s main tourist squares.

Demonstrators are due to set off from several locations around the city at noon before converging on Plaza de Cibeles in central Madrid.

The package of measures defeated yesterday included the automatic renewal of rental contracts when they expire, as well as measures aimed at restricting the eviction of vulnerable tenants.

They also targeted so-called vulture funds — investment firms that buy properties at low prices in pursuit of higher returns.

Housing has for years been a top concern for Spaniards as supply falls short of demand, with rents and house prices soaring as elsewhere in the European Union.

Average rents in Spain have almost doubled over the past decade, while asking prices for homes have risen by about 90 per cent, according to real estate website Idealista.

Abascal’s eviction catalysed long-running anger about runaway housing costs.

She was forced to leave the Madrid flat where she had lived after it was acquired by an investment company that sought to increase her rent by 275 per cent, according to housing campaigners.

The backlash led the property’s new owners to reach a deal allowing her to return to the flat at a low rent. — AFP