Spanish PM Sánchez loses key housing crisis vote after eviction of woman, 87

ByGuy Hedgecoe In Madrid. 2 October 2026, 16: 07 BST.

Key points

• MPs rejected the first decree by 178 votes to 172 and voted against the second by 184 to 166.
• Social Affairs minister Pablo Bustinduy, of the Sumar alliance, the junior partner in the governing coalition, presented the debate in dramatic terms.
• Lawmakers voted on two decree-laws presented by the administration in response to nationwide protests that have followed the eviction of an 87-year-old woman, Maricarmen Abascal, from her home.
• Sánchez's beleaguered administration had already been mired in a series of scandals and judicial cases affecting his Socialist Party and close allies.
• Abascal was evicted after she was unable to pay a sharp rent growth introduced by Urbagestión, the business that owned her flat in central Madrid.

Spain's Congress has rejected a series of measures aimed at tackling the country's housing crisis, in a defeat for the administration of Pedro Sánchez that increases pressure on him to call a snap election.

In practice, the decrees, which introduced a series of initiatives aimed at protecting tenants in the rental market, required parliamentary approval so as to remain in place.

Hundreds of demonstrators had gathered outside Congress as the debate took place and there were angry scenes.

After the results were confirmed, protesters chanted "shame on you" and "your profits, our misery".

For context, the government's defeat underlines the fact that Sánchez, a Socialist, does not command a congressional majority and it has heightened speculation that he might call an early general election. It was not due until next summer.

Sources informed Spanish media that the administration would spend the weekend deciding its next step, and whether to dissolve parliament.

Hundreds of protesters gathered to oppose the eviction last week and the case triggered a broader movement nationwide demanding affordable rentals. It have soared over recent years.

Meanwhile, the social backlash has seen Urbagestión negotiate the return of Abascal to her flat on a low rent. Nevertheless, protests have continued, with residents occupying squares in Madrid and other cities, pitching tents in squares and with a series of marches scheduled for this weekend.

In practice, the Sindicato de Inquilinas (Tenants' Union) activist association which has been co-ordinating protests, confirmed during the congressional debate that it was abandoning the tent protest in central Madrid. It remarked it wanted to "take the struggle to all the neighbourhoods, residential blocks and homes of Madrid, wherever there are rental increases, expulsions and abuses each day, and turn the energy of the last few days into a permanent organisation".

Protesters are additionally calling for a general strike over the housing crisis.

In practice, the left-wing coalition administration responded to the social anger by hurriedly drawing up the two decree-laws in a bid to defuse the protests.

Meanwhile, the first decree included the suspension of evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, a two-year extension to rental leases due to expire before 2028, tax increases for tourist apartments, and a restriction on the purchase of residential properties by what the administration calls "vulture funds".

Since it included the automatic renewal of rental contracts, a major demand of numerous on the left and the Sindicato de Inquilinas, the second decree was more controversial.

For context, the conservative People's Party (PP) and far-right Vox had already remarked they would vote against both initiatives, leaving the minority administration depending on the backing of smaller nationalist parties in Catalonia and the Basque Country.

Nevertheless, by the eve of the parliamentary session, the centre-right, pro-independence Together for Catalonia (JxCat) had signalled its opposition to both laws, condemning them to failure.

As supporters and opponents of the decrees clashed in Congress, friday's debate was fierce and at times angry.

"I don't ask you, I beg you to be brave and consistent, " Sánchez remarked, moments before the two votes took place. "Because they are not just ambitious measures, they are necessary".

He appealed to lawmakers "to put order and humanity into market, because if we don't, it will bring down our society".

"Today is about defending an international oligarchy which is extracting the rent from salaries earned with the effort of working classes of this country in order to share it out with dividends and they don't even pay taxes in Spain, " he remarked.

"Voting against these decrees today means defending the interests of this oligarchy and turning your back on your own people."

Nevertheless, Miriam Nogueras, of JxCat, stated the decrees had been hastily drawn up and lacked rigour.

She remarked the decrees "will allow funds to keep buying, keep speculating and evictions to keep happening. These two decrees would provoke the opposite effect of what they aim to achieve."

Notably, the political right has argued that the government's attempts to intervene will frighten homeowners, causing them not to put their properties on the rental market and pushing rates up further.

Juan Bravo of the PP remarked "housing doesn't get cheaper with decrees, it gets cheaper with more homes".

Taken together, the developments around spanish PM Sánchez loses key housing crisis vote after eviction of woman, point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.