Sánchez demands "to govern the housing market" and urges autonomous communities to apply the law to curb tourist apartments

Pedro Sánchez defended this Monday the need to "govern the housing market" and prioritize its residential use over tourist use. The President of the Government launched this message from Barcelona, less than 24 hours before a Council of Ministers marked by the negotiation of the new housing decree and with protests growing in both Madrid and the Catalan capital.

"We have to act in the field of housing, without a doubt," he affirmed during the presentation of the report 'Future Lives' at the Disseny Hub. Sánchez called on the autonomous communities to use the tools of the Housing Law to expand affordable housing and prevent the cost of a home from blocking life projects, especially among young people.

The president then moved that discourse to the specific ground with a visit to Illa Sibèria, a protected rental development built on the site of an old ice factory in Poblenou. Its 42 homes have monthly rents of between 429 and 502 euros. Thirty have been awarded to people registered in the protected housing applicant registry, eleven have been reserved for social entities, and one will be managed directly by the Fundació Hàbitat3.

Sánchez has linked his intervention with the eviction of Maricarmen, the 87-year-old woman expelled last week from the house in Retiro where she had lived for seven decades. "There is no right for access to housing to condition the decision to emancipate, to form a couple, to have children, or to grow old with roots," he later wrote. "We have to act with determination. For future lives and for present ones."

A decree negotiated against the clock

The Government intends to approve this Tuesday a battery of measures that would include permanent protection against certain evictions when there is no housing alternative, limits on speculative housing purchases by funds, greater regulation of temporary and tourist rentals, and mechanisms to provide stability to contracts. The decree would come into force after its publication, although it would need to be validated by Congress within 30 days.

The negotiation within the Executive itself remains open. Sumar demands a reinforced two-year extension for contracts expiring before 2028, automatic renewal of rentals, regulation of room rentals, and full protection for vulnerable people. The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has warned that the agreement is still "far off" and has threatened to fight if the text arrives decaffeinated at the Council of Ministers.

Podemos has further toughened its conditions and demands mandatory rent reductions, the prohibition of speculative operations, and intervention in homes accumulated by large funds. The purple party assures that it has not yet received the document and has criticized that the PSOE has chosen to negotiate first with Junts, whose support is essential given the announced rejection of PP and Vox.

Carles Puigdemont's party is willing to study measures against vulture funds, although it demands guarantees for small owners and tax breaks for landlords and tenants. The Executive seeks a text that preserves its social scope and can then gather the votes of Sumar, Podemos, ERC, EH Bildu, BNG, Junts, and PNV. The narrow parliamentary majority turns each section of the decree into a piece of the negotiation.

Pressure comes from the street

The conversations are taking place amid growing social mobilization. The encampment set up in Puerta del Sol after Maricarmen's eviction has completed its third day, while housing activists cut off several points in Barcelona this Monday to demand stable contracts, rent freezes, and an end to evictions without housing alternatives.

The visit to Illa Sibèria has allowed the Government to showcase a rental model very far from the usual prices in large cities. The development has involved an investment of 8.6 million euros, with 1.5 million coming from the European Next Generation funds. Sánchez was accompanied by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni.

Illa has called for "setting limits to the rampant power of money, greed, and speculation", while Collboni has claimed the "right to stay" in the city. The Barcelona City Council plans to withdraw the licenses of about 10,000 tourist apartments by 2028 and increase the production of protected housing to more than 1,000 units per year.

Sánchez has presented Catalonia as an example of the application of the Housing Law in the face of the rejection by several autonomous communities governed by the PP to declare stressed areas. The president has asked that the available tools be used throughout the country to contain rents and recover homes intended for the tourist market. The negotiation will continue until this Tuesday's Council of Ministers, with contract extensions, the regulation of temporary rentals, and protection against evictions as the main pending issues.