Spain agrees on measures to fix housing crisis, ban eviction
12 hours ago
Spain's coalition government on Tuesday said it has agreed new measures to tackle the country's housing crisis after the forceful removal of an 87-year-old pensioner from her apartment in Madrid last week, sparked nationwide solidarity protests.
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said the housing legislation includes a ban on evictions until 2030, tighter rules for short-term rentals and a two-year extension for existing leases.
"It's time to intervene in the speculative housing market and begin to rebalance the scales between citizens and vulture funds," Garcia, who belongs to the leftist government's junior coalition partner Sumar, wrote in a post on X.
The Spanish government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his ministers, approved the measures after a meeting.
But since Sanchez leads a minority government, he is still dependent on votes from a number of other parties in parliament before the bill is set in law.
Sanchez's ruling Socialists were engaged in talks with coalition partners Sumar and others up to Tuesday.
Socialist Housing Minister Isabel Rodriguez is scheduled to address a press conference later on Tuesday.
Images and videos last week that showed Maria del Carmen Abascal — known by her nickname Maricarmen — escorted out of her apartment by riot police officers touched a nerve among Spaniards who've long called for a solution to the housing crisis in the country.
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