It was just ten days ago that an outcry of indignation swept through Spain: last week, the police broke down the door to the apartment of 87-year-old, severely disabled pensioner Maricarmen Abascal in the center of Madrid, and paramedics carried her out.
Riot police had previously removed activists from the street who wanted to prevent the court-ordered eviction. Her landlord sold the apartment seven years ago and the new owners increased the rent from 500 to 1,650 euros. When the pensioner couldn't pay, they filed for eviction.
The outrage was followed by demonstrations and a protest camp in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square - and the reaction of politicians. On Friday, the Spanish Parliament will vote on two decrees from the left-wing government coalition on tenant protection. They are intended to prevent similar forced evictions in the future. But the minority government does not have a majority in parliament. The outcome of the vote is still open.
Not only protection against eviction, but also long-term rental agreements
Before the vote in Parliament, Alicia del Río once again appealed to the MPs. For the spokeswoman for the tenants' union, it's not just about better protection against evictions, but also about long-term rental contracts: "A minimum consensus is being voted on in parliament. So that there are no more cases like Maricarmen's."
But also a solution for families who don't know whether they can continue to send their children to the same school or whether they have to change neighborhoods, says Río, or even old women who don't know whether they can die in peace in their apartment or whether the landlord will terminate their rental agreement and throw them out on the street.
Two decrees to vote
She has the left-wing parties, from the Socialists to Podemos, at her side. They want to vote for both decrees.
One of the decrees prevents forced evictions of people in social need from their homes if the authorities do not offer them an alternative. It also extends tenant contracts that are expiring by two years. And it cuts taxes for the construction of permanently protected social housing from ten to four percent.
A second decree turns the current temporary contracts into permanent tenancies - this is the central demand of the tenants' union.
Two decrees are necessary due to the complex majority situation in the Spanish Parliament. This means that parties can only vote for the first decree and still reject the complete indefiniteness of rental contracts, says Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez about the difficulties in the negotiations. This is not the time to blame yourself, but rather to create a majority.
Who agrees to the decrees?
The Catalan independence party Junts, which is considered to be close to business and is particularly concerned about the so-called smaller owners, is particularly sought after. In fact, according to the decree, protection against evictions should now not apply if the landlord only owns one or two apartments.
The conservative People's Party, like the ultra-right Vox, rejects the new regulations completely. They accuse the left-wing parties of only wanting to protect those who already have an apartment. Instead, much more needs to be built.
Eduardo Gutiérrez is the managing director of the Provivienda housing association. He thinks the debate is a false dilemma that requires both short-term and long-term thinking. "In the short term it's also about protecting people who have problems paying their rent. And in the long term it's about creating a permanent supply of affordable housing. Both are necessary."
Majority for first decree probably
When voting in parliament, it is foreseeable that at least the protection against forced evictions provided for in the first decree or the temporary ban on buying residential buildings for less than 70 percent of their value will find a majority.
Housing market expert Gutiérrez says it's a step in the right direction, but for him it's not a big deal: "This Maricarmen decree is an emergency solution. If it stays that way, nothing will change the basic problem. To do this, the parties would have to think further than the next election. We would need a cross-party consensus, a state pact in which housing is seen as one of the pillars of the welfare state."
Meanwhile, Maricarmen Abascal's landlord has shown himself to be lenient under the pressure of the protests. The 87-year-old was allowed to return to the apartment from which she was evicted - without a rent increase.
