Third Deputy Prime Minister Sara Aagesen will also appear before the committee to explain plans for the electricity grid through 2030.
The Standing Committee of Spain’s Congress of Deputies will vote on the housing decrees on Thursday, November 12, a day after the general strike and just before the election campaign begins at midnight at the start of Friday, November 13.
The decree-laws have been in force since October 7, when they were published in Spain’s Official State Gazette (BOE). Under the Constitution, Congress must vote on whether to ratify them within 30 days.
With Parliament dissolved ahead of the snap election, the Standing Committee is the only congressional body still in session. It will decide whether to ratify or repeal the decrees.
According to the committee’s agenda, as reported by Europa Press, both decrees will be debated and put to a vote on Thursday. Sara Aagesen, third deputy prime minister and minister for the ecological transition, will also appear before the committee to explain plans for the electricity grid through 2030.
The committee will meet again later to vote on two other pending decrees. One contains social and labor protections, and the other provides aid to victims of the rail disaster in Urda, in the province of Toledo.
The first housing decree has majority support, while the second falls short
The first decree contains a broad package of measures to address rising housing prices. The second amends the first and would require landlords to compensate tenants if they choose to end a lease.
The government tried to pass both measures in early October, but the People’s Party (PP), Vox, Junts and UPN opposed both decrees. Together, the four parties held an absolute majority of 178 seats. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the Canary Islands Coalition also voted against the decree on tenant compensation.
The defeat of the decrees led to a snap election on November 29. After Parliament was dissolved, the government reissued both texts with minor changes. The new versions will go before the Standing Committee, where the government has enough votes to pass the broader package.
The committee has 69 members. The left-wing bloc holds 34 seats across the PSOE, Sumar, ERC, EH Bildu and Podemos. Podemos represents the entire Mixed Group on the committee. The PP, Vox and Junts together hold another 34 seats.
That leaves the PNV, with one seat, holding the deciding vote. The party has confirmed that it will stick to its position from before the snap election, supporting the broader decree and voting against the second.
The first decree, which includes eviction protections, restrictions on home purchases by so-called “vulture funds” and tax breaks for landlords and tenants, is therefore expected to pass by 35 votes to 34. The second decree, which includes tenant compensation, lacks the votes needed for ratification.
Loans of up to €50,000 for first-time buyers
The first decree includes a €10 billion program called Tu Casa that would offer loans of up to €50,000 to first-time homebuyers. Spain’s Official Credit Institute (ICO) will administer the program.
The decree also creates a €400 million social impact fund to support housing development by social housing providers. It tightens rules on speculative home purchases by so-called “vulture funds” by broadening the definition of those funds and revising the conditions for exemptions set out in the earlier text.
The first decree also bans evictions of vulnerable people who have no alternative accommodation through 2030 and provides for automatic extensions of rental contracts through 2028.
Under the second decree, a residential lease would automatically be extended for another five years once the initial five-year term ends, or after seven years if the landlord is a legal entity. If the landlord chooses to end the lease, the tenant would be entitled to compensation equal to one year’s rent.
