Podemos threatens to overturn the housing decree if the Government rewards landlords to convince Junts

The Government's new housing decree has not yet reached the Council of Ministers and already has a threat on the table. Podemos warned this Tuesday that it will not support "neither actively nor passively" a text that includes tax benefits for owners, one of the ways the PSOE is studying to attract Junts and avoid another parliamentary setback.

Ione Belarra has turned the warning into a red line. The general secretary of Podemos has rejected any "tax gift to landlords" and has reminded that her four deputies are also decisive. "Just as there are essential votes on the Catalan right, there are essential votes on the left," she launched in Congress. The message was for Moncloa, but also for Sumar.

The tension comes at a particularly delicate moment for the Government. PSOE and Sumar agreed to recover a housing package in July after Congress overturned the extraordinary extension of rentals in April, with the rejection of PP, Vox, Junts and UPN and the abstention of the PNV. This time Moncloa wants to arrive with the support tied up before taking the decree to a vote.

The problem is that the arithmetic is once again tight on all sides. Junts asks for tax incentives for owners who freeze or lower rents. Podemos rejects this entry point because it considers that it consolidates the business of those who already benefit from the rental market. The Government is trying to stitch together a majority that can break at any of its seams.

Belarra asks to slice the decree

Podemos is not limited to threatening with a no. It also proposes that the Government divide the decree and separate the extension of rentals from possible tax aid to owners. The precedent is in the social shield, when the Executive sliced measures to circumvent Junts' blockade and save part of the package.

The purple party maintains that it will not accept voting on a closed text that mixes protection for tenants with bonuses for landlords. Belarra has accused the Government of not having done anything effective in housing and of continuing to feed speculation policies. "Nobody expects too much from that royal decree," she said, before pointing out that many owners have built a "Nescafé salary" with rental income.

Podemos relies on a highly politically charged fact. In 2025, almost 28 billion euros went from tenants to landlords in Spain, and nearly 12.5 billion ended up in the hands of the richest 10%. For Belarra, talking about tax cuts for landlords in that context is equivalent to rewarding those who profit most from a crisis that primarily affects young people, working families, and migrants.

Housing has become the great weak point of the legislature. The 2023 Housing Law opened the door to limiting prices in stressed areas, but its application largely depends on autonomous communities that, in the hands of the PP, have refused to use this tool. Meanwhile, rents continue to skyrocket and the Government is trying to correct some market loopholes by decree.

Sumar tries to save the measure

Sumar has come out to contain the clash. Aina Vidal, deputy spokesperson for the group and leader of the Comuns, has asked Podemos to abandon "maximalist" positions and support the decree when it reaches Congress. Her argument is simple: the text can allow more than three million people to extend their rental contracts.

Vidal has admitted that Junts has very strong real estate interests and has even defined it as the "real estate employers' association". Even so, she has argued that a decree-law cannot function as a complete electoral program and that the left should not let a useful measure for tenants fall just because it does not contain everything each party wants.

The package being prepared by the Government includes the recovery of the extraordinary extension of contracts, the regulation of seasonal and room rentals, the obligation to formalize contracts in writing, and the increase of VAT on tourist apartments to 21%. Tax incentives for landlords who reduce or freeze rents are also being studied, precisely the point that has angered Podemos.

This debate is not minor. Temporary, room, and tourist rentals have become common ways to circumvent habitual housing and get more profitability from apartments. In large cities and stressed areas, these formulas have reduced stable supply, increased prices, and pushed many residents out of their neighborhoods.

The Government wanted to reach the summer with a social victory in housing. Now it needs to convince Junts without losing Podemos, and convince Podemos without scaring Junts. The decree still has no fixed date in the Council of Ministers.