Spain to ban evictions until 2030 following protests: AFP

• Spain's cabinet approved two housing decrees on Tuesday that extend protection against evictions until 2030.
• The measures also bar investment "vulture funds" from buying homes until 2028 and extend some expiring rentalcontracts by two years.
• The government has asked Congress for an extraordinary plenary session on Friday to validate both decrees.
• The move follows mass protests sparked by the eviction of an 87-year-old Madrid woman.

Spain's government approved two royal decrees on housing on Tuesday, extending protection against evictions until 2030, regulating seasonal rentals and rooms, banning purchases by vulture funds until 2028, and extending current contracts ending before Dec. 31, 2028 by two years.

An agreement was also reached on the automatic renewal of rentals, which will go into a second royal decree, and the government has asked Congress to hold an extraordinary plenary session on Friday to validate both decrees immediately.

Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez had said the package would tackle the problem structurally rather than through evictions alone. She said it would also cover vacant homes, public housing construction and tourist apartments, and warned that a decree without enough support in Congress would not become law.

The government postponed the decree at the end of July because it lacked sufficient support in Congress. Approval still depends on agreements with parties outside the governing coalition. The conservative Popular Party and the far-right Vox are expected to vote against the measure, according to AFP and AP.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has linked the case to Spain's wider housing crisis. AFP reported that he called for legislation to prevent such evictions and described the issue as a shared responsibility of government and parliament.

Protests

The decrees follow a week of public anger over the eviction of Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman who had lived in her Madrid home for about seven decades. The eviction was later reversed, but it set off a wave of spontaneous solidarity in several cities, and tens of thousands marched through Madrid on Saturday.

Some demonstrators camped overnight in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, where more people, including multi-generational families, joined them on Sunday. Protesters are demanding stronger tenant protections and a ban on evictions when no other housing is available nearby. A UN Special Rapporteur criticised the eviction and said it should have been suspended.

The episode has become a political flashpoint. Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso said the eviction was carried out by national police, who answer to the central government. Sumar, the junior coalition partner, proposed expropriating the home. Sumar ministers had threatened to stand up to their Socialist colleagues at the cabinet meeting if measures such as a total end to evictions were not accepted.

The protests come against a backdrop of tight supply. The Bank of Spain estimates the housing shortage at around 755,000 homes, a figure it says could reach one million by 2028.

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