Spanish Congress rejects both of government's housing decrees

Spain's Congress of Deputies on Friday rejected two housing decrees approved by the government earlier this week, dealing a double defeat to its efforts to introduce new tenant protections and address housing affordability.

The first decree was defeated by 178 votes to 172, with the conservative People's Party, far-right Vox and Catalan separatist Junts voting against it.

The measure included protections against certain evictions, regulation of seasonal and room rentals, measures aimed at expanding affordable housing and restrictions on certain property purchases by investment funds.

A second decree was rejected by a wider margin, with 184 lawmakers voting against it and 166 in favor.

That measure included the automatic renewal of primary-residence rental contracts in cases where landlords could not provide legally recognized grounds for ending them.

Junts opposed both decrees and had called on the government to withdraw the measures before the votes and negotiate new legislation instead.

The two decrees had been approved by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday as part of the government's response to concerns over housing affordability and protections for tenants.

The votes came amid protests over Spain's housing crisis, with demonstrators who had been camping in Madrid's Puerta del Sol marching toward Congress on Friday to demand approval of the measures.

The protests followed the Sept. 23 eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for more than 70 years.

She was removed on a stretcher and taken to a hospital, with the case becoming a symbol of the country's housing crisis.

Abascal has since reached an agreement with the company that owns the apartment, allowing her to return to her home after leaving the hospital with a similar rent under a new contract, averting a significant price hike.