BARCELONA, Spain -- Spain’s interim lower house of parliament on Thursday ratified housing measures designed to limit evictions and real estate speculation, a day after a general strike and major street protests over the country’s housing cost crunch. The duration of the approved measures, however, will likely depend on the outcome of a national election set for later this month. The leading opposition party, the conservative Popular Party, has said that it will repeal the housing measures of the left-wing government if it takes power, which polls indicate is a real possibility. “Yesterday, the right to housing won on the street and in workplaces, and I hope it will win again at the ballot box,” interim Housing Minister Isabel Rodriguez told lawmakers, in reference to Wednesday’s general strike and the upcoming election on Nov. 29. Spain’s government had tried to push through the measures in October after public anger over soaring rents erupted following the nationally-televised eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid. But the PP and other conservative parties aligned in parliament to reject the measures. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez responded days later by calling an early election. The government then waited to try again to pass the measures with a smaller interim parliament, where it and aligned progressive parties had a slightly more favorable distribution of seats. The government split the measures into two decrees, with one measure that appeared doomed from the start being separated into a second decree so as not to put the rest in danger. The first decree containing a package of measures succeeded in passing on Thursday, while the second decree was, as expected, rejected again. Measures to help tenants The interim lower house has 69 members, compared with 350 in the regular parliament, which was dissolved when the election was called. The first decree passed in a 35-34 vote. The decree that passed included a measure that extends protections against evictions for tenants deemed by social services to be in a precarious financial or social position as long as regional authorities can’t offer them an alternative residence. The measure will last until 2030. Another main feature is an attempt to reduce real estate speculation by impeding any company involved in the real estate market from buying properties for less than 70 per cent of their value. That is meant to stop wholesale purchase of properties at low prices, and their subsequent resale at higher prices. The decree also stops rent increases for rents that already exceed the reference price established by the government’s index of prices for that given neighbourhood. It also establishes a 10 per cent tax on apartments rented to tourists -- like those on online platforms such as Airbnb, which have become a target of public scorn -- along with a tax incentive to encourage leasing and government-backed loans for down payments on homes for residential use. Lawmakers again reject indefinite leases The second decree which was once again rejected would have made residential leases automatically renewable by tenants. If owners wanted to break contracts, they would have had to compensate tenants with a year’s worth of rent. Many lawmakers deemed that measure would have led homeowners to withdraw properties from the rental market, triggering a drop in supply and even higher prices. It was rejected 34-35 after a center-right Basque party voted with the right-wing bloc after having supported the other decree. “You promised us more housing and have only given us tons of demagoguery,” PP lawmaker Sergio Sayas told the minister. The PP has pledged to oversee the construction of one million new homes while slashing taxes and red tape for real estate development if they return to power after eight years of Socialist-led rule. By Joseph Wilson
