ERC will vote in favor of Sánchez's housing decrees but demands more ambition: Junqueras asks to increase the public housing stock

The president of Esquerra Republicana, Oriol Junqueras, has confirmed to 'Cadena SER' that his party will vote in favor of the two housing decrees approved this Tuesday by the Council of Ministers. 

Despite supporting the initiatives, Junqueras has questioned the scope of the measures promoted by the Government. The republicans believe that the Executive should have gone further and describe the proposed actions as a patch, understanding that they do not address the underlying issue.

The ERC leader has demanded a "decisive effort" from the Government to increase the supply of public housing and thus expand the available stock. Junqueras has also raised the need to promote the rehabilitation of flats as part of the response to the housing emergency.

Furthermore, the president of Esquerra has linked housing policy with mobility and has called for improving public transport to prevent the population from concentrating in the same areas. The republicans' proposal thus involves combining the increase in public housing and rehabilitation with an improvement in transport connections.

Sumar pressures to publish the second housing decree now 

The spokesperson for Izquierda Unida (IU) and deputy for Sumar, Enrique Santiago, has demanded that the second housing decree, related to the automatic extension of rental contracts, be published "immediately" in the Official State Gazette (BOE), while also asking Podemos to support the Government's proposals: "One must always vote for what is best for the working class".

Santiago made these statements in the corridors of the Congress, when asked about the Government's decision to publish only one of the two decrees approved this Tuesday by the Council of Ministers in the BOE this Wednesday, the one agreed with Junts, and to leave the publication of the second, which affects the automatic renewal of rents, for this Thursday.

Asked about this delay, the Sumar deputy defended that it is "fundamental" that the second decree be published "quickly, immediately," and pointed out that the technical arguments he has heard for not doing so do not convince him "at all."  

At this point, Enrique Santiago insisted that the text must be published in the BOE as soon as possible, in a context in which the Tenants' Union demands this automatic renewal of contracts and in which Sumar has adopted this demand.