Spain postpones housing decree to September after Junts and Podemos withdraw support
The Spanish government delayed the approval of a broad housing decree until September after failing to secure the necessary parliamentary backing from both Junts per Catalunya and Podemos.
Pedro Sánchez’s government will not bring its flagship housing decree to the last Council of Ministers of the political term on Tuesday. Instead, the package of measures designed to stabilize the rental market and boost affordable housing supply has been postponed until September. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, led by Isabel Rodríguez, confirmed the delay on Monday, following a weekend of intense negotiations that failed to bridge the divides between the government and its investiture partners.
Collapse of immediate support
PSOE and Sumar had reached an internal agreement last week on a draft that included a two-year extraordinary extension of rental contracts expiring before 30 June 2028, new restrictions on seasonal and room rentals to prevent the circumvention of the Housing Law, and a 21% VAT rate for tourist flats. The text also contained a reform of the Land Law and fiscal incentives for landlords who freeze or reduce rents. Within hours of the draft’s circulation, the fragile parliamentary arithmetic began to unravel. Junts per Catalunya dismissed the package as insufficient, with party sources describing it as 'more of the same' and criticizing the absence of measures on squatting.
Es más de lo mismo.
Podemos, meanwhile, demanded the removal of the land-law reform section, rejecting the tax bonuses for landlords and insisting on a reinforced shield against evictions. The PNV conditioned its support on deeper urban-planning reforms that would guarantee legal certainty for the sector and protect regional competences. The government’s hope for a cross-party consensus ahead of the summer recess was effectively abandoned by Monday morning.
The government's justification
The Ministry of Housing issued a carefully worded statement acknowledging that 'the tightness of the calendar can be an obstacle to an agreement, given the complexity of the text.'
The responsibility and generosity of all the groups has brought the agreement closer than at any other point in the legislature.
Officials insisted the delay was not a retreat but a strategic pause. By giving the negotiation 'a few more weeks of margin,' the executive aims to secure the 'broad and transversal agreement' required to pass the decree through Congress. The final cabinet meeting before the summer break will instead prioritize measures to combat wildfires linked to the ongoing climate emergency.
Timeline of the legislative push
The housing decree was conceived as a cornerstone of the government’s agenda for the final stretch of the legislature. It was to be approved in the Council of Ministers on 28 July and then face a validation vote in Congress within 30 days. A previous housing decree had already been defeated in parliament in April, and Moncloa was determined to avoid a repeat. The decision to postpone is therefore a direct acknowledgment that, as of the morning of 27 July, the votes needed to survive that validation process were not guaranteed.
- PSOE and Sumar reach a draft deal including a two-year extension of expiring rental contracts and a land-law reform.
- Podemos criticizes the draft, demanding that the land-law reform be removed and calling for a strengthened shield against evictions.
- Junts rejects the text as 'more of the same,' citing the absence of measures on squatting (ocupación).
- The Council of Ministers delays the decree's approval to September, citing the complexity of the text and the need for broader parliamentary consensus.
The sequence of events shows the government attempting to reconcile irreconcilable demands within a single legal text. Junts continued to object to what it described as a 'new omnibus housing decree,' echoing its refusal to back previous economic legislation. Podemos drew a red line on the urban-planning provisions, while the PNV and other regionalist formations pushed for more autonomy protections.
What happens next
Minister Isabel Rodríguez's department stated it would use the summer weeks to intensify contacts with all the investiture groups, with the aim of reactivating the initiative in September 'with greater guarantees of success.' The government still describes the package as 'ambitious' and frames the delay as evidence of its commitment to dialogue rather than a sign of weakness. The challenge remains unchanged: Sánchez must find a formula that satisfies a parliamentary majority ranging from pro-independence Catalan parties to left-wing formations that fundamentally disagree on how to regulate Spain’s strained housing market.
